Yard Tower Lights

[gdelmoro]

Anyone know where I can find reasonably priced HO Yard tower lights?  All I've found have been $30 - $45 for ONE

[gmpullman]

I looked at several options using girders from Central Valley or Walthers conveyor kits and even their etched brass grain elevator parts.

No matter how I sliced it the project wound up in the $50+ range.

I bought the etched brass light towers from Alkem Models.

http://alkemscalemodels.biz/yard-light-towers/

Assembly can be a little challenging but once you make a clamping fixture and get the right kind of solder (Tix) it builds into a beautiful model. The kit does not come with light fixtures so I made some out of parts from the scrap bin and some SMD LEDs.

 

Floodlight-Alkem2 by Edmund, on Flickr

Floodlight-Alkem by Edmund, on Flickr

Floodlight-Alkem1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Floodlight_Alkem-top by Edmund, on Flickr

Floodlight_Alkem_tall by Edmund, on Flickr

Floodlight_Alkem_base by Edmund, on Flickr

 

 

It is amazing how often these towers show up in various railroad photos of many eras.

 

Good Luck, Ed

 

[hon30critter]

Ed:

Beautiful job on the tower! To me, it looks like it's worth the money.

Dave

[mbinsewi]

Wow Ed, excellent work!

Mike.

[RR_Mel]

Train Cat has a very nice Light Tower brass kit.  I bought two of their Cantilever Signal Bridges and they go together very nicely.

http://www.traincat2.com/

 

Mel

 

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[dknelson]

NJ International has had yard light towers in their catalog for years, and both are under $30@.

http://www.njinternational.com/litetwr.htm

They are perhaps a bit short, but prototype height light towers might look somehow "wrong" given how short our trees and buildings and "mountains" tend to be.

Note that they also have towers under "freight loads"

http://www.njinternational.com/freightloads.htm

NJ International has many items in their line that I was unaware they had --  easy to overlook.      

Dave Nelson

[gdelmoro]

yes i found the NJinternational towers but they are ALWAYS sold out

[hon30critter]

There is an NJ International four light tower on eBay right now. Its not in the greatest shape unfortunately, but for the price it might be worth an attempt to straighten it out.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NJ-International-Yard-Quad-Floodlight-item-525-1973-/332129046799?hash=item4d546f110f:g:6zQAAOSwTuJYpjQe

Dave

[gdelmoro]

THANKS Dave. GOT it!

[Fat Russian]

Try looking on eBay for ho LED street lights, I personally haven't purchesd them so I cannot speak to their quality, but a handful of them is pretty cheap.

[gdelmoro]

So I purchased six HO scale yard lights on eBay.  They're about 5, 51/2 inches tall. Is that correct? Some of the above look a lot taller.  What so the proper height for yard lights?

[hon30critter]

gdelmoro:

5 1/2" is about 40 HO scale feet so your lights aren't huge compared to some but they are still fairly tall. The height of a modern street lamp is about 25' IIRC. I think the height is really dependant on the size of the area that it has to illuminate. If you have a large modern yard then something in the 80' - 100' (12" - 15") range might be more appropriate but if you are in a smaller yard or service facility your lights should work fine. Keep in mind that you have six lights so you can spread them out to cover a fairly large area.

Dave

[gdelmoro]

Thank you for that information. 

[HENRY VICENIK]

Ed, your work on the tower looks really good!  I really like these towers from Alkem - so much that I SERIOUSLY am considering swapping out the Miniatronic double flood lights I currently have in my HO yard.  I am very interested to know all the materials you used to build your light fixtures.  I see you made most of the fixtures from brass.  Are those brass rings with the 3 prongs on the top from a kit or can I get those as a bundle in a packager from Walthers?  Would you mind sharing with me the eact materials you had used?

 

Thanks,

Henry 

[gmpullman]

Hi, Henry

I see that I have to replace those Photobucket photos to fix the banner across them! 

As I mentioned in the text, I made those fixtures out of "junk" found in the scrap bin. Specifically, flower pots from Preiser and Parlor car chair bases from Union Station Products. I would stick the tiny LED into the housing with a little piece of double stick tape then use canopy cement to "seal" it in place.

The brass rings were supplied by Alkem with the kit.

I have a second tower that I'll be making soon and I plan to use these little flood lights already assembled:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Model-Railway-Spot-Lamp-Post-Flood-Lights-HO-OO-TT-Scale-LEDs-LYM20/253388125417?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

These weren't available when I built my tower. I like them so much I bought several more. I'll post some more photos as time permits.

Floodlight1 by Edmund, on Flickr

The head can pivot on these little guys.

Floodlight by Edmund, on Flickr

The wire is very fine and flexible. Hope that helps —

Good Luck, Ed

[HENRY VICENIK]

Ed. I ended up getting a couple of the yard lights and those lights you mentioned. I think the lights will work perfectly in the models. One additional question to you...what AWG gauge wire did you use for your lights to try to conceal the wires leading down the stem of the model?  These lights I bought off EBay take resistors per light. I was trying to find very thin copper and thinly insulated so I could run the wires down a brass square tube on the inside of the shaft I would add. That way I can conceal the resistors under the bench work and not have resistors clutter up the top of the yard light. I am not having good success finding a really thin wire with thin insulation. 28-30AWG is still too thick due to insulation.

 

thanks

henry

[BigDaddy]

HENRY VICENIK

28-30AWG is still too thick due to insulation.

If that's the case, check out magnet wire.  It comes in gauges 34, 36 and 40

It is insulated, tho' you might not thinks so by looking at pictures.

 

[maxman]

Tyco made some light towers that might work.  Not as fancy as the brass or scratch-built items.  But not bad looking either.

Upper left of photo.

[Mark R.]

Based on more current regulations .... "All outdoor lighting is HID or LED. Light fixtures are mounted on either wood or metal poles. Wood poles are 25 to 45 feet high. Metal poles are 25 to 120 feet high and are single poles or 4 leg towers."

Mark.