Bill Gillespie
Bill has been using TrainAidsA products for some time in his
locomotives and layouts as well as converting some for his club members.
He lives in Titusville, Florida, and is a member of The Titusville Area Model Railroad Club, Inc.
This slide show contains some of his work using LEDs and products from TrainAidsA.com.
Modifying Con-Cor N gauge Great Northern S-2
Bill's N Scale Loco with LED Switched On
This and the next picture show a Con-Cor N gauge Great Northern S-2
that I did
for a fellow Titusville Area Model RR Club member. The locomotive is AT
LEAST 25 years old, made by Con-Cor and is of the old "split frame"
variety of construction.
It originally had an incandescent "grain-of-wheat" bulb, with a diode,
that illuminated a plastic "light bar" behind the smokebox front, for a
headlight.
View with LED Switched Off
Removed the light bar, GOW bulb & original diode. Replaced them
with one of "pre-wired 3mm LEDs (W3)" from TrainAidsA. Aligned LED with
headlight opening, using original headlight bulb mount & a small
piece of double face tape. A 1N4001 diode fit readily next to the LED.
All were connected to the original light contacts on the frame to
supply power. As you can see, It's quite impressive. The LED comes on
at full brightness just as the locomotive begins to move and stays
constant through its entire speed range.
The owner is more than happy with it! Thanks!
Installing LEDs in F-40
Disassembled F-40
Disassembled F-40 ready for install with
necessary parts, Trainaidsa.com W3 W-White LED and Radio Shack 1N4001 Silicon Diode
Completed wiring, ready for 'folding' to fit
under front ballast weight.
Completed wiring, ready for 'folding' to fit
under front ballast weight.
Note how the diode lead goes to the rear, then folds over the top
to keep it out from under the front weight.
There were no "surprises" in this installation. It was just a matter of "folding"
the legs of the diode to get it on top of the motor, in the space between the weights.
The LED fits nicely in the groove in the front weight.... You may want to carve out a
little of the weight to let the LED sit lower and line up better with the headlight openings.
And to make sure there's no interference when you lower the body on.
/p>
Completed Installation
Completed installation, ready for body shell
to be snapped back on.
The metal is very soft and carves easily with a utility knife. It actually takes longer
for your soldering iron to heat up than it does to do this installation!
On a Test Run
Completed model, being test run on our club
layout.
The Titusville Area Model Railroad Club, Inc. is in Titusville, Florida, 45 minutes East of Orlando,
and directly adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center. Contact Bill Gillespie, at (321) 269-0723.
The Club meets on Monday evenings from 7-9p.m. Layouts in HO, N, and 3 rail O(Lionel). Any and all are welcome.
Modifying an SNCF by Jouef
Using TrainAidsA's SMD LEDs
I needed to put a total of three headlamps on the front of a European protoype
locomotive per their practice and the TrainAidsA Surface Mount Device 3528 was perfect.
The model is a French steam engine by Jouef and is included in their "Orient Express" boxed set.
Opening & Preparation
Picture shows the smokebox face and the buffer beam areas where the LEDs will be installed.
There are small "tabs" molded onto them that indicate where the lamps would be on the "real thing".
The loco was originally lighted by an incandescent bulb behind a hole in the top of the smokebox, one position only.
LEDs in place
Photo showing all 3 SMD LEDs in place with wires run through tiny holes
drilled on either side of the buffer beam mounts & through the original headlight hole on the smokebox.
All the wires simply run back through the boiler casting to the cab where they join the two "original"
wires for the headlamp. The resister and diode were put in the tender, where the wires originate.
This locomotive model has a "tender drive", very common for European manufacturers, with "electrics" in the tender.
The locomotive is merely a "dummy" pushed ahead of the tender!
Finishing Install
A look at the installed LEDs after a bit of touch up
with some black paint (to match the loco) that conceals the SMD units and their wiring, leaving only the face of the LED exposed.
They look like little square lamp housings sitting on the brackets at the front of the engine.
Done at Last !!!
Done at last and being "test lit" on our club's HO layout.
The camera flash kind of "washes out"
the LED lighting in this picture, but the effect is just perfect!
Now "Model Rails", start lighting up some of your own engines, TrainAidsA parts make it easy.
