Working
Marker Lights
This page shows you how to install working marker lights on your favorite locomotive.
Classification Lights
In the days of the timetable-and-train-order system flags and classification lights were used to identify the different types of trains. Flags were used during the day and classification lights were used at night.
The classification or marker lights were used in three different colors:
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White markers indicated that the train was an “extra” and not shown in the timetable.
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Green markers indicated a regularly scheduled train that was being followed by a second section. If there was more than one additional section all the sections except the last would be lit with green markers.
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Red markers were used to indicate the end of a train. If a locomotive was being used as a helper at the end of a train its markers would be red.
Modeling Classification Lights
Most steam locomotives were equipped with two or three sided marker lights somewhat similar to the photo above. For years colored jewels have been readily available to model different colored lenses. With the availability of miniature surface mount white LED’s it is now fairly simple to model working marker lights! Before I show you the steps to do this I want to give credit to Jim Betz for the idea.
Surface Mount LED’s
With today's miniature components
surface mount LED’s have become commonplace. While red, green, and yellow
surface mount LED’s have been around for quite a while, it’s only recently
that really good white LED’s have become available from Richmond Controls.
Richmond Controls offers these white LED’s in two colors, “golden white” and
“sunny white”. The golden white LED’s have a slight yellow tint to them that
is typical of an incandescent bulb. The sunny white LED is a bright white
that is more typical of a modern Halogen bulb.
For the marker lights you want to use the golden white version. The photo to the right shows a pair of the 0603 size golden white LED’s. The 0603 size means that the LED measures .060” (1.5mm) long and .030” (.75mm) wide. As the LED’s are intended for surface mounting on printed circuit boards they don’t have any wire leads on them. To use the LED’s for the marker lights you have to solder on some small #36 magnet wire leads as shown in the photograph. As these parts are very small they can be tricky to solder to, first you have to scrape off the enamel insulation on the magnet wire and then you have to carefully solder a wire to each of the LED’s terminals. Attach the wires so that both leads come off in the same direction as shown.
If the LED is going to be installed in a plastic marker light then you are all done, if you are installing the LED in a brass marker light then you need to insulate the exposed terminals so that they don’t make contact with the brass housing. I used five minute Epoxy and applied a very thin coating of Epoxy over the exposed terminals of the LED.
Preparing the Markers
The photo to the right shows a
pair of typical modern era marker lights from Cal Scale. As you can
see there are indentations in the marker to accommodate common jewels or MV
lenses.
To make room for the LED’s the markers need to be drilled out so that all three lens areas are open. This drilling is probably the trickiest part of this whole project.
Leave the parts on the sprue
and clamp them in a vise as shown in the photo. Use a .052” (1.2mm) diameter
drill and drill through the two back to back lens openings. You will probably
have to support the bottom side to prevent the sprue from bending under the
pressure of the drilling. After drilling the through hole, mount the sprue
on the top of the vise and drill out the third lens hole. Make sure you have
a sharp drill bit when doing this.
Page 1 - Last updated November 13, 2006