Carriage Lighting

 Another great session at the West of Scotland Group yesterday.

Keith Shovelin treated us to an excellent presentation and demonstration on carriage lighting for both DC and DCC layouts,

Featuring Davy Dick's original Pocket Money Kit PMP 19 created back in 2015, Keith showed how this strip-board circuit could be installed in a 00 gauge coach with reasonable modelling skills. He did give the warning to try this on some old coaches first as disassembling detailed modern coaches does present some risks to the unwary.

For those using DCC an additional diode bridge circuit can be installed so that power can be taken from the track rather than the 3 volt button cell.

An image above of Brendan Harris's Pullman Coach (WOSAG)

To make it easier to place the circuit within the carriage, a surface mount version was designed using a board designed by Fraser Smith. This might also be suitable for undermounting and even on N gauge stock.

This is unlikely to be available as a kit because of the small volumes required, but I'm sure if enough people are interested we could at least arrange for the boards to be made. Looking at the size and with a minimum order of 10 panelised PCB's (12 circuits per panel) each mini PCB would cost about 20 pence.

If you are interested drop me a line on the comment form stating how many you might need and whether you want the button cell or DCC version and I will try and provide a more accurate costing.

Removing coaches to access the on / off switch could be problematic and latching reed switches were discussed as a potential solution.

A stay alive version using a capacitor was demonstrated very effectively on a piece of dirty track.

Even when the carriage was taken off the track completely the lights stayed on for a couple of seconds.

With commercial versions available at around £20 the MERG kit provides exceptional value for money.

Thanks to Keith Shovelin for a fabulous presentation.

Andy R