# Room lighting



## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

I'm still planning on rebuilding my layout and have decided to go with an around the room layout, 32 to 36 inches wide with a narrower drop down at the door way. The room is 10X14. The room does not have any overhead lights in it but am thinking about putting in a pair of 4 ft two bulb fluorescent shop lights as shown in the drawing. I think it should be enough light and there is a window also.
What does everyone else use for room lighting?


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

Lighting is a personal taste thing. i like to have more than one way to light the layout. I like a bright lite for working on it and a dimmer light for running trains.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

That sounds like it would work, consider adding a dimmer switch to them.
Maybe 2 dimmer switches one for each?


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Dimmers don't really play well with florescent lighting, even the ones that say they will work. The lights flicker or buzz like crazy. It will drive you nuts.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

sjm9911 said:


> Dimmers don't really play well with florescent lighting, even the ones that say they will work. The lights flicker or buzz like crazy. It will drive you nuts.


I didn't know that. That sounded like a good ideal. 
The one in my garage flickers till I tap the end with a piece of wood.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

I only know that because I bought a bunch for my house. They make leds for regular screw in bulbs that will work with the Dimmers but I haven't found any that will work with florescent tubes or screw ins.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I've tried "dimmable" florescent lights in various form-factors, none have worked that well. I'm waiting for the LED lighting to get reasonable.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

I bought the led screw in bulbs at Costco with a coupon, Mabey15$ each. I'm slowly replacing the compact fluorescent, they have been causing a lot of fires. The ballist burn up, especially in a humid environment. As for the layout I just have the regular florescents, like you are planning. I also have a lot of lights on the layout so I can turn off the overheads and have a pretty cool night time layout.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Like David, I have a room size layout. A single
track main follows the walls. I installed a
3 head track fixture using incandescent
floods on a wall switch dimmer. It's convenient
to be able to aim the heads where you
want most light.

It's Dimmable to show off the car and building lighting.

For the work bench I have one of those dandy little
OTT flourescent lamps. It's keen for close
up work on those tiny gadgets we use.

Don


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Here are some links for ideas on lighting:

http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-railroad-lighting.html

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,2131182

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=58989

The 4 and 8 foot long fluorescent for general lighting seem to be gaining some favor. You can fluorescent tubes in clear, cool, etc. One of them tends toward actual sun light (can not remember which one).

A dimer switch, as previously suggested, is a great idea.

I was thinking about more lighting for my layout, but must consider that the better the layout, the more the improvisations can be seen.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

David,

My train room is a bit smaller than yours. I have a pair of 2'x2' flourescent light banks (each with two U-bulbs) ... so 4 bulbs total. Plenty of light for the space. It's more bright-white than incandescent lighting, but it provides ample lighting.

After some time, I'll find a bulb that won't turn on with every swith-flip .. a telltale sign it's time to replace a bulb.

Regards,

TJ


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'll try it with the two 4 footers at first if I need to boost it up I'll make it three and that should be way more than enough. I've got 5 of them in my two car garage/shop and they work pretty good in there. 
Thanks again.

David


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## Mayhem (Mar 25, 2013)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> I've tried "dimmable" florescent lights in various form-factors, none have worked that well. *I'm waiting for the LED lighting to get reasonable.*


Don't hold your breath...those things are going to stay high for a while. 
I would just use the 4ft- 4 tube fixture with the 5k or daylight bulbs and just use 2 switches to turn 2 off in each set to dim things.


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*Has anyone replaced florescents with LEDs?*

Florescent lights do not reflect the color properly. That has been my experience anyways.I've been researching the newer LED's. They have been reported to produce
enough lumens and have a color corrective shade of the spectrum. Is this true?
Your perspective on this issue is greatly appreciated!
Regard's,tr1


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Mayhem said:


> Don't hold your breath...those things are going to stay high for a while.


On a dollar-per-hour-of-life-expectancy basis, LED's are cheaper than fluorescents or incandescents. You just have to get past the initial investment.

I have six 1600 lumen "daylight" led bulbs over my layout. I could install dimmers if I wanted to, but haven't seen the need. It's very bright!


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## mjrfd99 (Jan 5, 2016)

We finished our room with florescent lighting in 04 Put up plenty as I knew eye sight does not get better with age.  Main wall switch with individual on/off switch on each fixture. Cant see 'em all but you get the picture. 8 fixtures from Home Despot weren't expensive. You can get different bulbs for different shade of light
Like back when 2 Guys had pink bulbs over the meat counter to make their horse meat look good LOL
Helps that Dad taught us all electrician skills, that man could do almost anything.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

I used to have four-foot-long fluorescent tubes in the train room. About five years ago I switched to track lighting using both incandescent and CFL bulbs (some size r20 and some r30). Track lighting is definitely the way to go in my opinion as you can direct the light wherever you want it. As the CFLs and incandescent bulbs burn out, I’ve been replacing them with LED bulbs. These days LEDs are reasonably priced and you can get them in a variety of color temperatures from 2400K to 5000K. You can also get dimmable or non-dimmable and between 450 and 1250 lumens.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Has anyone replaced flourescents with LEDs?*



tr1 said:


> Florescent lights do not reflect the color properly. That has been my experience anyways.I've been researching the newer LED's. They have been reported to produce
> enough lumens and have a color corrective shade of the spectrum. Is this true?
> Your perspective on this issue is greatly appreciated!
> Regard's,tr1


tr1;

Yes, I have. My garage and kitchen are now lighted with 4' LED fixtures that are intended to replace a 4' florescent fixture. Note the entire fixtures were replaced, not just the tubes. I bought my fixtures(they come complete with two LED tubes) at Costco. Initially they had a "virtual coupon" (no actual paper needed) that brought the price down to about $8.50 per fixture. This deal is now long over, and I think the full price is about $16.00 ea. They also sell LED replacement tubes, that you can install in an old florescent fixture, but the two tubes were actually a couple bucks more than the whole new fixture, which included two tubes! Go figure! The LED fixtures are ready to run, you just plug them in. I'm very happy with them. They appear to give the same amount of light as the florescents did. They use less electricity and are expected to last for a decade or two without replacement. I highly recommend them.

Regards;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Room vs. layout lighting*



Davidfd85 said:


> I'm still planning on rebuilding my layout and have decided to go with an around the room layout, 32 to 36 inches wide with a narrower drop down at the door way. The room is 10X14. The room does not have any overhead lights in it but am thinking about putting in a pair of 4 ft two bulb fluorescent shop lights as shown in the drawing. I think it should be enough light and there is a window also.
> What does everyone else use for room lighting?


Davidfd85;

Your 4' florescent fixtures should do fine for lighting the general room area. Lighting your around-the-walls layout will likely require other lighting. For two reasons. First, to have enough work light, where you need it, when you are trying to fix something, and you are between the room lights and the work area. Second for display lighting when running the railroad. I use LED fixtures for the room, and LED light boards for display lighting. The LED light boards I use were extracted from a different lighting fixture, but LED strips are available to do the same job.

Good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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