Engine Terminal Upper Valence and Lighting
Here are photos of the construction of the valence for the engine
terminal portion of the layout. The most recent set of photos is at
the top.
Important Note: Some time after I completed this lighting work
for my small layout, when I was investigating getting a permit for wiring my
shed for my woodworking tools, I found out that 1. It would most likely
have required a permit and 2. Homeowners where I live are not allowed to apply
for the permit or do the work themselves. If all your electrical work plugs
into existing outlets in the wall, you might be working within allowable
parameters. It gets iffy, though, especially when you add lighting.
In Anne Arundel County in Maryland, even though Home Depot and Lowes sell all
the "do it yourself" stuff locally within the county, any and
all electrical, plumbing or mechanical work must be permitted and the
permit must be pulled by a master electrician, plumber, etc. Obviously the
county is not interested in safety, only in the lobbying efforts of the
professional groups. If safety was the concern, they'd let a homeowner (who is
likely going to do a lot of things like this themselves anyway) apply for a
permit and get the work inspected and approved. Instead, the homeowners will do
the work themselves anyway and can't get it inspected. In this Maryland
county, a homeowner cannot even legally replace a sink trap, replace a
breaker, or install a battery-operated smoke detecter themselves.
Yet another case of big money lobbying groups prevailing over common sense.
In any case, check your local codes before starting any work, especially
electrical work on your layout, and especially if you add or modify any
circuits to support it.
If you're a model railroader, or just like the information on this site, be sure
to drop me a note in my guestbook.
April 24, 2004 - Patched and Painted upper Valence
In April 2004, I painted the yard lighting valence a thick gloss black. The
paint is actually a black Walmart exterior paint, and worked extremely
well. During normal operation you can see nothing at all of the
valence due to the black color. The flash on the camera brought out the patches
and whatnot on the right, however. I chose black because it will disappear and
also because it is the color of all the transition era WM locomotives. I chose
gloss because it will be very easy to wipe down when it gets dusty. On the
backdrop page you can see the backdrop I primed white on the same day,
as well as a good shot of what the valence normally looks like.
November 4, 2003 - Completed Yard Valence Construction
Over the weekend, I completed the construction for the yard area valence.
It still needs patching and painting, but here is the yard valence, complete
with WM logo. I plan to paint it black, and if I'm feeling overly
creative, put a yellow/gold stripe and other marks to make it suggest the side
of a locomotive.
In the foreground you can see some of the mainline and chaffee branch benchwork.
Here is a detail shot that shows how I attached the valence to the
framework. I ended up using a lot of angle brackets as there was not
enough clearance between the ceiling and the framework for me to screw anything
together from up top.
October 19, 2003 - Installed Yard Lighting
Here is the lighting for the yard area of the layout. The fluorescent
lights all have installed full-spectrum light bulbs, and are much brighter than
they look in this photo. The bulbs in use here are simple 5000k 90CRI
Phillips bulbs I picked up at Home Depot. I have some other ones
(different brands and color temperatures) on order so I can do a
comparison for light quality and quantity. I also orded electronic
ballasts which will be installed in these fixtures later. If you install
fluorescents in your layout room, be sure to purchase electronic ballasts -
they improve light quality (less flicker), have no "hum", and cause
less signal interference with computer, and (presumably) DCC equipment. I
also plan to pick up UV filters for these lights as well.
To the left you will see the low-voltage halogen spots that I plan to use to
highlight different areas when photographing. I may install a second
track of them in the center of the yard area to ensure full coverage. I'm
using normal halogen bulbs with UV filters right now, but may look into
full-spectrum halogens in the future.
(in the foreground of this photo, to the left, you can see my tripod and the
backdrop I used to take the white-background photo of my
VO1000)
Here is a closeup of the switch box that controls the individual lights.
This box will be mounted within reach under the yard benchwork. Rather
than wire directly into the home wiring, the power-side 12g Romex cables go to
a junction box (also mounted under the layout) where they are combined and
wired to a three-prong heavy-duty power cord. You can see part of the
power cord in the bottom left of the photo. All switches carry the ground
through from the lights to the wall socket.
October 3, 2003 - Started Valence and
Light Support
Here is the plan for the valence and light support. The valence itself
will curve around the extremities of the butt-jointed suport work.
Here is the right side of the valence and light support. It is screwed into the
studs at the back and side. I also support the outboard end via a support
screwed into the joists overhead.
Here is the left side ready to be installed
Here you can see the block I attached to the installed right side to help
support the left side during installation. You can also see the two shims
I had to put in because, while I made every effort to keep my work square, the
folks who built the room did not :-) You can also see the slot I left
open in the backdrop to allow wires to drop down in the window area, and to
also allow heat to escape from the window area.
Here is the upper valance and light support almost complete. I still need
to add the two trapezoidal pieces on both ends. The bottom of the
backdrop is the height the yard will be when installed.
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