Railway Historical
and Modeling Society
Layout Photos
Structure Layout Lighting Project
A short time ago, a couple of years exactly, I decided to add LED lighting to all structures if it seemed logical that they should have interior or exterior lighting. I used a basic 12 volt power supply, which is pretty much a laptop power supply. I then created a 12 volt buss to run through the layout and then a second power supply and buss to run from the opposite end of the layout.
Each structure would be designed to plug into the 12 volt buss and then each have an appropriate 1000 ohm resistor or larger for each LED. I used different color LED for different applications. I would use bright light or "blue" LED's where it would be most likely to anticipate fluorescent lighting such as in an open garage or a basement window. Other interior lights would be a warm white more consistent with incandescent lighting.
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Streetor street scene with porchlights on and at the Dairy Queen
Coal City homes on the outskirts of town
Ranch house with living room light and porch light.
Ranch house with living room light, kitchen light, garage light and porch light.
The dining room window is dark as a mask was put over the window. A different temperature LED was used for the garage to represent fluorescent lighting.
Porch light on with a party going on in the living room. Same house below and we might notice that someone is in the basement with the lights on. Do they have model trains in the basement?