11 easy urban lighting tips for your model railroad layout

Off-the-shelf parts make lighting a layout a snap

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Trains.com Director David Popp shares 11 easy urban lighting tips to help model railroaders learn to light their layouts for nighttime operations.

As if model railroads aren't cool enough by themselves, adding miniature lights to the streets, buildings, and automobiles on your layout can make it so cool it glows – literally!

Recently, I added lights to a portion of Model Railroader's HO scale Beer Line project layout, which was first featured in the January 2009 issue of Model Railroader. With its detailed urban scenery, the Beer Line offered a lot of great options. And, when running an operating session on the layout, a lot of the action is supposed to take place at night, making the Beer Line a perfect candidate for lights.

When adding lighting to any layout, the best option, of course, is to prepare your models for lights as you build them. The miniature lamps, wiring, and interior details are easiest to install when the walls, roof, and floors haven't been cemented together yet. However, with a little care, even structures that have been completed can be lighted. You may just need to rework them a bit.

This was the case on Model Railroader's Beer Line layout. The Model Railroader staff had completed the layout in 2008 without any intention of adding lights. As a result, all of the structures needed to be removed from the railroad to gain access to their interiors. A few required some modifications, and one (the power plant) had to be completely disassembled and rebuilt.

The project took several weeks, putting in an hour here and there between my other tasks, and the end result was more than worth the effort. The lights really bring the Beer Line to life, especially when switching the Freight House Job during a nighttime operating session.

The lights on the Beer Line are powered by a 12 volt, 1.25 amp power supply from Ngineering (item no. N3512). Miniature lamps used in light fixtures made for model railroads typically range from 1.5V to 14V, so it's important to choose a power supply that is both rated in volts for the lamps you wish to use and can handle the load placed upon it (number of amps).

If you’re using light emitting diodes (LEDs), you’ll need to know the polarity of the supply's wires. On this supply, the wire with the white markings is positive.

It's best to make a lighting plot before you start wiring your layout for lights. On the Beer Line project, I made this map showing where all the lamps would be used. I also made a key for which types of lamps go where.

For the lights, I used a variety of manufacturers’ products, including Brawa, Busch, Walthers, and Miniatronics. I also used a Light Works USA lighted sign for one of the bars. The Walthers catalog is a great starting place for a project like this because it provides pictures of the lights and their ratings in volts.

I choose lamps that seemed to fit specific locations on the layout. For example, the Brawa wall-mounted lights and under-roof lights are a little more ornate than some of the others, and they seemed to fit the style of the power plant well.

Most of the lights used in the project were rated for 12 to 16 volts, but the Miniatronics hanging lamps are 1.5 volt bulbs, so they require a resistor to step down the 12 volts from the Ngineering power supply. The lamps came with their own resistors, but those were valued a little too high for 12 volts, so the lamps barely glowed. After a little experimenting with different resistors, I replaced those that came with the lamps with RadioShack no. 271-1113 330Ω resistors. As seen in the photos, the lamps now glow softly at 12 volts.

The street lights on the layout are from the Walthers Cornerstone series. These lights come with a barrel socket, and the lights themselves have a bayonet-style brass mounting pin. The great part is that these lights are removable, which makes it easy to clean the layout or move them for photographs.

Mounting the lights to the layout is straightforward. First, I marked the locations for each light. I spaced them along the street 12″ apart, except where they would interfere with other scenic features. In those places, such as between the bridge and the two bars, I let the scenery dictate the distance.

I drilled a 7⁄64″ hole through the sidewalk and out the bottom of the benchwork at the marked location for each streetlight. These holes are for the wires and will help center the larger holes needed for the streetlights’ sockets.

Next, I used an 11⁄32″ drill to make the 3⁄4″ deep socket holes. For this operation, I set the drill in reverse.

We built many of the sidewalks on the layout from Walthers plastic kits. By running the drill in reverse, it keeps the cutting edges of the large bit from tearing up the plastic sidewalk parts. If you work slowly, the bit running in reverse will cut a smooth, clean hole through the plastic. Once through the sidewalk, I drilled about 3⁄4″ into the foam scenery base.

After threading the wires through the hole (see the straw technique on page 38 of the October 2012 Model Railroader), the socket press-fits into the opening in the sidewalk, and is tight enough that it doesn't need to be cemented in place. The lamp post then plugs into the socket.

The wires are soldered to a 12V DC light bus under the layout made from solid 18AWG wire.

Model structures can be made from many different materials. However, the thinner and lighter color of that material, the better the chance that it will glow when lit from the inside. This is a common problem with model railroad buildings, especially those made from thin, light-colored plastic.

The problem isn't as noticeable if the model has several coats of paint on the exterior surfaces, but that doesn't always work. As an example, I tested our Wolski's Bar structure, which is made from a plastic Walthers kit. I placed the building over the Brawa lamp that I was going to use to light the interior, and despite the gray paint on the outside, it still glowed a bit.

To prevent that from happening, I painted the inside of the model Polly Scale Engine Black, as shown in the photo to the right. Black paint works well for this type of project, and you can even use it to cover some of the windows, making it seem like the building's interior is actually divided into rooms. One problem with painting interiors of finished models, however, is that not all of the structure's seams may be water tight. The paint found a couple of places it could ooze through, particularly around the roof, so the model's exterior needed some touch-up work.

As another option, on O’Mally's Bar across the street, I built a light box inside part of the building using .040″ black styrene sheet. As shown in the right photo, I made cutouts for a few windows to allow the light to be seen. This technique was just as effective as the paint, and a lot less messy to work with.

Once you’ve added lights to a building or two, you’ll quickly realize that you’ll also need some interior details. Some modelers work diligently to place full interiors into their buildings, and those can look spectacular when the building has interior lights. However, you may be surprised to learn that you can create the illusion of a fully detailed building with little effort. I’ve placed two figures sitting in chairs near the open windows in the office. When viewed from the layout in the center photo, they appear to be working in a finished office.

Window shades are another simple detail you can add. You can make your own shades from paper, cardstock, or even masking tape. On Wolski's Bar, shown above in tip 4, we used plain tan masking tape for window shades. For something a bit more detailed, such as the blinds used in the freight house, we added City Classics set no. 711 window blinds. These are printed on clear plastic and are very easy to install. City Classics also makes an assortment of curtains too.

You can use signs to fill window spaces as well. On the two bars on the layout, we installed paper beer-brand signs, which have a pleasing glow when lit from behind. We also painted the clear plastic glazing in places to look like curtains and installed City Classics blinds on the doors.

For the open loading docks on the Blatz Beer warehouse and the freight house, we added an assortment of Woodland Scenics and Preiser figures and detail parts. These scenes are set up as shadow boxes, so it doesn't take many details to make it appear that there is a full interior just out of view.

Structures with very large windows, such as stations and factories, can be more of a challenge to light. Because of the expansive glass and open interiors, these buildings need to have some extra modeling work completed if you plan on lighting them.

The power plant on the layout is one such model. We’d used a Walthers Northern Light and Power Co. kit for this model. Although the exterior was painted to represent the color of typical Milwaukee cream city brick, the interior had not been painted at all. When lighting the building, this would have resulted in seeing the original red plastic walls.

To fix this, I carefully disassembled the model by dissolving all the wall and window glue joints with Plastruct Bondene liquid plastic cement. I then smoothed the joints with a fine sanding stick and washed the parts in water, letting them dry overnight.

I wanted to protect the original paint and weathering work on the exterior, so I masked all of the painted wall sections with Scotch Blue Painter's Tape, including the window openings. I sprayed the interior walls a base coat of black, and then applied a tan finish coat.

Walthers makes an interior detail kit for this model (933-3130). While it's just some simple plastic shapes representing turbines and a boiler, it's enough to make the viewer think there's more to it. I painted and installed the kit, included a few Preiser figures, and reassembled the building.

Business signs are everywhere, and nothing adds more realism to a layout than lighted store signs. Thanks to Miller Engineering's Light Works USA series of signs, it's easy to add miniature lighted signs to most any N, HO, or O scale layout. The signs come with everything you need to install them, and they can be set up to be lighted all the time or run one of several animated patterns.

For this project, I used a no. 54821 lighted O’Mally's Bar sign. It simulates a typical neon sign that fit in very well with our Beer Line layout. The sign itself is built into a clear piece of plastic that plugs into a special socket.

Figuring out how to install the sign in the fully built plastic structure required a bit of tinkering. Eventually,I removed the second story window above the bar and filed a thin slot into one side of the window frame the height of the sign itself. I also removed the plastic mounting surface from the side of the window casting.

When I was finished with the modification, I cemented the window back into place. I now had a slot that the sign could slip into and connect to its socket and wiring harness inside the building. The modification would have been much easier on an unbuilt model, but it worked.

I mounted the electronics for the sign inside the building. The sign is powered by a battery pack, but Miller Engineering also offers a converter module (item no. 4804). The module can be hard-wired to a power supply up to 17V DC. I clipped off the battery pack from the sign and soldered the red and black wires to the converter. The white wires attach to the 12V DC lighting power bus.

Once you’ve got everything else lighted, you’ll probably notice that you’re still missing something pretty common: automobile headlights. I’ve seen modelers install headlights in cars and trucks in a variety of ways, including using miniature lamps, light-emitting diodes, and fiber optics.

Not being that ambitious, I went looking for something simpler and found a series of lighted vehicles offered by Busch. While the lineup is limited, Busch does offer a 1950 Chevy pickup truck. I purchased one for the layout and set to work.

Installation is about as easy as it gets. The model comes fully assembled with the lights installed. It has two small wires that extend from the bottom. Drill a hole in the layout, connect the wires to your lighting bus, and you’re ready to go.

Although Busch's model comes with an interior, it didn't include a driver, which made the truck appear to have been abandoned. I disassembled the model, and with a bit of modification including cutting out the top of the clear window casting, I installed a seated Preiser figure.

Once I saw how the truck went together, I tried adding the Busch lighting element to another vehicle. I bought a second truck, removed the bulb and plastic light parts, and set to work retrofitting a Woodland Scenics no. 5535 convertible.

It was not an easy project. The plastic light tree used for the lights had to be cut apart with a razor saw and glued back together to fit the Woodland Scenics model, and only the headlights fit. The finished car, shown to the right, looks great, but attempt the project at your own risk.

Running tiny wires through your layout to reach the wiring bus on the underside can be problematic. On our Beer Line layout, most of the structures are mounted on top of a sandwich of 1⁄2″ plywood, 2″ foam insulation board, and 1⁄8″cork topped by a layer of plaster and styrene. Threading thin wires down a small hole through all of that can be next to impossible.

To make the job easier, I used a plastic coffee stir straw as a conduit. Simply slip the straw into the hole so it extends under the layout, then slide the wires through the straw. Finally, pull the straw out from the bottom of the layout and connect the wires.

Most of the buildings on the layout are removable, and we wanted to keep them that way. I installed Miniatronics Micro Mini plug and socket sets (item no. 5000102) on all of the buildings that had lights attached to them.

The plug is wired to the building lamps, and the socket is wired to the lighting bus wires under the layout. To remove the building, unplug the connection inside the building and lift the structure off the layout.

Once you start adding more than a couple of lights to a building, you’ll find you need a way to manage all the wiring connections. On the bigger structures I installed wiring bus bars. I used strips of .032″ x 1⁄4″ brass inside the buildings. On the freight house, I attached the brass bars to the interior wall by building simple supports using styrene strip.

With the bus bars in place, I first connected the power bus plug to the brass strips. I then soldered the lamp wires to the bus bars as I installed the lights in the building.

With these easy urban lighting tips, lighting your model railroad layout for nighttime operations should prove to be an illuminating experience.