Thursday 22 January 2009

Illuminating The Garden Railway

What do you do on a dark and dismal Wednesday afternoon?Well I decided to brave the elements and do a little work on our 00 gauge garden railway.Now,I found a wagon which had a 12V bulb inside,due to light up as the wagon was mobilised.Well, I tried it...didn't work! So I decided to try and illuminate a building with it! I cut the wires and then soldered 2 new wires to the bulb (known as a 12V "Lilliput" I believe) then found one of my station buildings.The station I decided to experiment on was "Ashford", the 3rd station along the line. I took the booking hall and removed the roof. I then, using a vice to support it, drilled the back of the building with a small handrill, to allow the wires to be fed through. The buld was then placed inside and the wires fed through the hole I had made. The contraption was then tested by placing the wires on the electrified rails...success! The bulb shone brightly! I then added a bit of glue to the hole from the inside. Once dry, this stopped the wires moving and also allowed the bulb more safety. Then roof was then replaced and the "booking hall" glued to its platform. It was then placed outside and "wired up" as it were. Success once again! As you can see in the pic, the bulb works fine and we now plan to illuminate every building! It should look very good in Winter's darkness...but 2009-2010 Winter darkness! :)

So that's 3 more stations, 3 signalboxes, 2 engine sheds, 2 shops and many houses....A little to be getting on with! Next post coming soon!

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