Large Scale Central

Night time on the Sandstone & Termite

Model Photography
#1

I had built lights into my first couple of stations 15 years ago. I then found it was too cold to go outside on winter nights and too many mozzies in summer, so I never connected them up

They are grain-of-wheat bulbs with styrene shades.

But recently I decided to do some ‘test’ pics and videos, so I wired them in and also used small a torch taped to piece of dowel to simulate a platform light on a pole.

I was quite please with the results, and will keep experimenting.

![](http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users//greg_hunter/lone man2 S.jpg)

![](http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users//greg_hunter/couple on plat S.jpg)

It’s cold waiting for that last train at night!

![](http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users//greg_hunter/lone man S.jpg)

I also tried a few videos and here’s the result… http://youtu.be/ROIE-UJPnhs

#2

Great looking pictures Greg. BTW welcome to this great site.

Chuck

#3

Great idea Geg. Ill have to give that a try for some night shots.

#4

Greg Hunter said:

It’s cold waiting for that last train at night!

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users//greg_hunter/lone man S.jpg)

That guy sure get’s around. I’ve seen him here in Sunnyview many times :wink:
Very cool photos.
Welcome to LSC.
Ralph

#5

Yes, he’s a good traveller.

Thanks for the comments guys. I’m pleased I actually got the pics to post.

#6

Nice work Greg. Both with the pictures and the layout. I think I liked the video best.

#7

Thanks Joe. The video was just a ‘practice run’ to see how things appear to my camera, making use of additional in-fill lighting with torches etc. I hope to make a longer one detailing ‘a night on the railway’ or something like that. I need to add interior lighting to other coaches and guards vans and maybe some temporary lights in other buildings. I’ve ordered some ‘flickering tea candle LEDs’ to see how they go.

#8

Over the summer (downunder) I fitted lights to all my passenger carriages and station buildings.

I’ve ‘standardised’ on using ‘golden’ white LEDs from this source:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100p-4-8mm-GOLDEN-WARM-WHITE-LED-14000mcd-FREE-RESISTOR-/350326235790?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

And 9V ‘PPS” rechargeable batteries.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-Durable-9V-9-Volt-300mAh-BTY-Green-Ni-Mh-Rechargeable-Battery-PPS-block-/170786981792?

The batteries are removed for storage and charging. They are claimed to be 300 mAh but I’d say more like 100. Anyhow, that’s more than sufficient using these LEDs, which give quite a good light at around 5mA. So even my sleeping car with a total of 12 LEDs, takes only 13mA total.

The golden LEDs give a great light. In this pic the headlight is a ‘normal’ white LED and the internals are ‘golden’ ones.

Melaleuca station has 3 LEDs under the awning and 3 internal. The closest pole light is grain of wheat, and the distant one is a LED.

Lilyvale station has 3 golden LEDs in the building.

I used ‘normal’ white LEDs shined into the ends of 50mm perspex to simulate fluorescent lights in the dining car.

this shows 2 compartments in my sleeping car. The right compartment has a ‘blue night light’.

this video shows some more of my experimenting with night video. I tried getting my grandson to shine a torch on the train but he was a bit too close. I used a flickering tea-light in the loco cab and it looks quite good,

http://youtu.be/b8swGCs9_ew

and this is the one I previously posted:

http://youtu.be/ROIE-UJPnhs

#9

[youtube]http://youtu.be/b8swGCs9_ew[/youtube]

#10

Nice job on the lighting.
Looks great!
Ralph

#11

all those lights look great and certainly adds another dimension to your terrific layout. I like in the video around the 1:53 mark where we can hear the loco struggle to get up that grade. After the video I noticed on the right another video of yours where you were testing a fireman shovelling coal. Your attention to detail is really amazing Greg. Nicely done.