N Scale Rotating Beacon

[UP Simon]

I’m trying to find or make some N Scale Rotating Beacons.
In the past I bought a couple from Details-N-Scale and although their website still exists they haven’t responded to emails.
Anyone know if they are still in business or if anyone else makes something similar?

Thanks

[C855B]

https://www.shapeways.com/product/EWBTEW9YV/federal-commander-beacon-n-1-160-25x?optionId=57783307&li=marketplace

[wvgca]

if it's going into a loco, many decoders are set up to simulate a rotary flashing beacon , for example digitrax is you would 6 to the value to indicate rotary beacon simulation .. this would be added to the CV, say in CV51, F1 function 1 outputting on the green wire , or any light function of your choice ..F1 through F6 [if you have them on your decoder]

[Jim Starbuck]

I made this one from a piece of 1/16” clear acrylic rod. In a pin vise I pulled it across a file lying flat in the edge of the table while rotating the piece. This turned down the light pipe portion that went through the cab roof which was about 3/16” long. I then turned it around and while holding the smaller end in the pin vise repeated the process on a sanding block to reduce the diameter and create the slight bevel.
Once the size was right the bottom was painted with a chrome paint pen and the top with Tamiya clear orange.
It’s a scale 7” diameter. A surface mount LED can be glued to the stem on the underside of the cab roof to illuminate it using a decoder function effect described above.

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[Rivet Miscounter]

An important note about Mike's link, is that there is an accompanying video about illuminating the Shapeways beacons. (similar to the process Jim Starbuck was describing for his clear acrylic rod method.)

I went from modeling post-2000's (where these were non-existent save for maybe a few industrial locos or remote control units) to the late 80's where almost all of my locos will have them.   So this is a timely post for me.

[C855B]

An important note about Mike's link, is that there is an accompanying video about illuminating the Shapeways beacons. (similar to the process Jim Starbuck was describing for his clear acrylic rod method.)

Thanks, Doug. I had a minor hand in Alvin revising his artwork for the Federal Signals "Commander" (Western Cullen was their RR-industry subsidiary) since I had a 1:1 version in my collection and could supply close-up dimensions and details. UP used these particular motorized rotating beacons, but faded memory indicates that BN used Prime Mfg. beacons (flat top) with a array of four fixed sealed-beam bulbs under the amber dome, eliminating the motor drive. Santa Fe used Primes as well, and SP put them on a handful. Can't speak re. other roads.

Alvin's Prime beacons are here: https://www.shapeways.com/product/E9PNQBJ7G/prime-pm-series-beacon-n-1-160-25x?optionId=57781273&li=marketplace

Beacons came into vogue ~1969, (I think) prompted by a state law or administrative ruling - WA, I think. The yellow beacon rule was rescinded after the RRs complained that the beacons, designed for motor vehicles, couldn't take the vibrational abuse characteristic of rail service and became a maintenance problem, burning bulbs out at a prodigious rate. UP's last directive about installing beacons was in the late '70s; I can't find any info on when they started to remove them, my guess being proximate to merger-mania in 1982.

At any rate, the FRA rules requiring ditch lights (early '90s) trumped all of the flashing and oscillating attention-getters.

A long while ago I built a test model of a rotating beacon using ngineering.com's Rotating Beacon Simulator. Looked cool, but there was just no way I was going to do that to dozens of locos. The single LED from beneath or an 0402 in the dome is the solution I hope to deploy... some day... when I have the time...

[peteski]

. . .
 UP used these particular motorized rotating beacons, but faded memory indicates that BN used Prime Mfg. beacons (flat top) with a array of four fixed sealed-beam bulbs under the amber dome, eliminating the motor drive.

Non rotating 4-lamp beacon? Interesting.  That would not be as attention-getting as a rotating one.  I remember (and often see in police drama reruns) that emergency vehicles from the '70s had emergency beacons just like you describe (either 4 or 2 sealed-beam bulbs) which still rotated for that attention-getting flashing effect.

[wazzou]

Non rotating 4-lamp beacon? Interesting.  That would not be as attention-getting as a rotating one. 

I would guess the lights lit and went out in sequence and around the beacon, repeatedly, simulating a rotating beacon.

[C855B]

I would guess the lights lit and went out in sequence and around the beacon, repeatedly, simulating a rotating beacon.

Correct. And Pete is right, they were not nearly as attention-getting as the rotating sealed-beam. Making it worse, the domes on the Primes seemed to darken over time, dimming the effect, probably due to exhaust from leading units in m.u. The Federal/Western domes were somehow immune; I guess there was possibly something different between the plastics.