Kato PRR rerun

[Ngineer]

I bought the first run in 2008 and installed the 11-211/212 lighting kit with the orange filter.

The cars look nice, but they flicker like crazy when running, either DC or DCC. Should I solder the lighting kits??

And regarding the color: Does anybody know if Kodak Wratten filters ore something similar are still available? That would be nice to fine-tune the color temperature.

   Javier

[thomasjmdavis]

The Kodak filters are still out there. 
You might also consider Lee or Rosco lighting filters for stage and TV lighting.  They have a wide variety of colors, and have some specifically for color temperature correction. 

Comes in sheets that are around 50cmx65cm - which is to say, a single sheet can outfit a large fleet of N scale cars.  Also useful for tinting windows.  It is made to withstand the heat output of 1000w halogen lamps, so you will melt the car long before any heat from the lighting will damage the filter.  Many of the color correction colors are also available in tubes designed to fit over fluorescent lamps, if you want to play with lighting in the layout room.

http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html  If you scroll to the bottom of that page, they even have an app for your phone that provides a selection guide.  Elsewhere on the site you can find a dealer list for locations around the world.  Rosco has a website as well, and there may be new contenders since I retired a few years ago.

[peteski]

I bought the first run in 2008 and installed the 11-211/212 lighting kit with the orange filter.

The cars look nice, but they flicker like crazy when running, either DC or DCC. Should I solder the lighting kits??

   Javier

Soldering will not help. Flicker is due to dirty wheels (intermittant electrical contact with the track).  Making sure wheels and track are absolutely clean will take care of the flicker.  Adding a keep-alive circuit would also make the LEDs flicker much less.  I looked into doing this, and it was quite easy on the original version of the LED lighting kit, but on the version 2 that you are using it is much tougher (due to the way the circuit is designed) to splice in a keep-alive.  It is doable but it requires soldering couple tiny pins of the diode array, and running a jumper between them.  It would be a very delicate operation.  I haven't done it yet myself.

[MK]

What Peteski said.  On my ONP set, I remembered I took it to a train show and ran it on an N-Trak layout (not my club's).  Flickering all day long and giving people epileptic seizures!  I was disappointed all day long.  Then when I came back home and tried it on my home layout, with nothing changed, there were zero flickering!  Dirty tracks!

[wazzou]

MBKlein's down to 14 of the 10-car set from 69 when I first looked.

#nice

[reinhardtjh]

Currently (time of this post) MBKlein has one 10-car set left and is sold out of the 4-car add on and the ATSF sleeper.

My supplier in Cincinnati said Walters is out of stock and waiting on a restock from Kato.

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice train, and I’m glad sales are doing well. Good for you a Pennsy guys! And for the rest of us, too. Good sales=other future projects.
As to interior lighting, I for one don’t understand the fascination with running lighted passenger trains in broad daylight. There are very few layouts capable of credible night time operation, and train show layouts are even less so. Throw in some flicker and the fact that lighting quality varies in color and intensity, sometimes car to car, and the effect is just an unrealistic detraction to me (the stock Aerotrain looks to me like a bunch welders on steroids practicing their craft on their way to a welders convention).
But, to each his own, and I do acknowledge interior lighting can be done realistically, with a lot of effort, in the right setting. I just haven’t seen a lot of it...
Otto K.

[thomasjmdavis]

Nice train, and I’m glad sales are doing well. Good for you a Pennsy guys! And for the rest of us, too. Good sales=other future projects.
As to interior lighting, I for one don’t understand the fascination with running lighted passenger trains in broad daylight. There are very few layouts capable of credible night time operation, and train show layouts are even less so. Throw in some flicker and the fact that lighting quality varies in color and intensity, sometimes car to car, and the effect is just an unrealistic detraction to me (the stock Aerotrain looks to me like a bunch welders on steroids practicing their craft on their way to a welders convention).
But, to each his own, and I do acknowledge interior lighting can be done realistically, with a lot of effort, in the right setting. I just haven’t seen a lot of it...
Otto K.

The other aspect of lighting is that the lighting is only as realistic as the interior of the car- which means that interiors need to be painted.  No point in lighting the car and pulling all the shades down.
 In N scale, our interiors tend to come from the factory as tan (boring, but preferred by those of us painting), or deep shades green, red, blue or brown (taking quick look in my parts box).  I am slowly but surely painting interiors, and the difference shows even without lighting.  And kudos to those who have the skill to model patterned carpet and upholstery, and details like place settings and antimacassars.

[Point353]

As to interior lighting, I for one don’t understand the fascination with running lighted passenger trains in broad daylight.

Considering that the Broadway Limited made most of its run in the dark, one could make a case for having interior lighting on the model.

OTOH, if you're simulating the portion of the run that was well after the bedtime of most passengers, how much lighting might you expect to see?
For those sleepers with rooms along only one side of the car, should only the aisle side be illuminated?
Would the lights still be on in the diner and/or kitchen-dormitory cars?
The baggage-mail car would probably have the lights on and possibly the same for the lounge sections of the observation and 5DB-bar-lounge cars.

[Mark5]

I think the limited left NYC around 5 or 6 pm, so at least in summer it would have been in daylight for some hours as it traveled WB. Likewise, the sun already would have risen as it approached Chicago.

Regardless, I passed on the 1st release as money was tight, so this time I was able to set aside some money and pick up a set.

Mark

[kscessandriver]

Thanks for the advice on lighting kits and an interesting discussion about them. Sometime down the road I'll probably go ahead and light it, but I've got a bunch of Amtrak cars to light and some Metra cars.

I've got no power to run the train as it sits now, just did some basic running with an Amtrak E8, but can't wait for the PRR one from my same order to arrive.

[peteski]

What Peteski said.  On my ONP set, I remembered I took it to a train show and ran it on an N-Trak layout (not my club's).  Flickering all day long and giving people epileptic seizures!  I was disappointed all day long.  Then when I came back home and tried it on my home layout, with nothing changed, there were zero flickering!  Dirty tracks!

Yes, dirty track, dirty wheels, or combination of both.  I always clean the wheels of my locos and illuminated cars after I run them on the NTRAK layout at the shows.  Wheels do pick up crud from the track. Both need to be kept clean for steady power delivery.

[MK]

Peteski, what is your method of cleaning the wheels of an illuminated coach?

[OldEastRR]

Yep, I've found that KATO light sets are flicker-free with clean wheels and track.
As for interior lighting



it does no good if all you see is empty interiors (pardon the very dusty windows of this car. Somebody should have washed them before taking the pic!). I really like playing with lighting up my KATO cars and have tried various methods to have the white LEDs light up common spaces (like the corridors or a lounge area) and "warm" light (made by usuing exposed film and colored translucent sheets) for any sleeping area. To have both lighting effects in the same car looks pretty cool.
And yes, I agree that if you're going to run a lighted train it's definitely a night running and many of the sleeping compartments would have shades down and basically be blocked out windows. However thr RPO, the corridors, lounge areas, coaches (esp with sleeping sections) would still be brightly lit.
I had an interesting time figuring out how to light the upper deck of the UP domes, especially the diner. Takes a lot of reconfiguring the deck floor to let light up from below. 

[peteski]

Peteski, what is your method of cleaning the wheels of an illuminated coach?

I use the same wheel cleaning setup I use for locomotives.  I copied (and improved) my friend's design.



I nailed a piece of Atlas code 70 flex track onto a wooden board.  Then I glued couple of styrene strips on the outside of the rails (even with the railhead), because  the wheel tread is  wider than the railhead.  Next, I drilled some holes and installed brass rod holders which retain squares of Bounty paper towels.  I use Bounty because it is thick.

I soak the paper towel with 99% isopropyl alcohol (friend uses denatured alcohol), and I simply roll the (by hand) car back and forth over the paper towel.  Once the towel gets dirty, I lift the retaining rods slightly, and move the towel to a clean spot and press the rods back down.

This also works on locos. I connect a throttle or a DCC system to the track, and hold the loco so one truck is over the paper with the wheels spinning, while the other truck contacts the metal rail to get power.