Passenger Car Lighting, N-Scale

[trainpilot1]

Is there a good system available for powering (lighting) N-scale passenger cars using a battery versus track power ?  Enough lighted passenger cars on a DCC system will greatly lessen locomotive power...a good, simple battery system for each car could work well.

[alfadawg01]

This is not meant as a joke (well, not completely.....) but how about glow-in-the-dark paint on the inside of the windows?

[Mike B]

I know you said you didn't want to draw from track power but have you considered the yellow glow LED strips from Miniatronics which only draw 36mA current and have a capacitor to eliminate flicker.  I have not tried one but seems like I read somewhere the HO caboose version (#100-YCB-01) could be used for N Scale passenger cars.  It measures 1/2" x 5" and you can break off one or more LED segments if 5" is too long for your car.  At $22.95 it is expensive but when I finish laying my track I am going to give one of these a try.  They also make florescent look versions but since I am modeling 1933 era I am going to try the yellow glow version.

I have read about using batteries but I always have the nightmare vision of being interrupted duriing during an operating session and never getting back to the layout for several days resulting in a whole string of battery lighted cars going dead at one time.

Mike B.