# UP Pullman With Passengers



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

I was looking at smooth side passenger cars on ebay, when I noticed this N Scale - Kato -Union Pacific- Smoothside Pullman Sleeper - Detailed w/ Lights | eBay
a UP







with bulb lights and passengers glued in. An interesting novelty, so I bought it.










The bulb light module will have to go, but I have some LEDs coming tomorrow. A good idea for the other cars I have -- populate them.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

How's it look put together? Take another Pic after you put in the LEDs!


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## SF Gal (11 mo ago)

I have some old bulb Athern passenger cars and I am looking to convert.
I never did like the constant flickering on the lighting, not very prototypical, in my opinion.
I was considering adding a capicator along with the bridge rectifier, to the car wiring so as the train rolls, the lights are constant. Are you also considering a similar plan with your conversion?


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

The Kato cars, and this is a Kato sleeper, have a fixture where you insert two copper strips and then insert a lighting module so its conductive wires press against the copper strips. It's kind of tenuous. There can be flicker, and the light modules can work loose and the lights go out, requiring fiddling to get them to connect again. The Kato light modules, bulb or LED, plug in at one end of the car and hopefully shine light down the length of the car through a strip of transparent, clear plastic. A hope not often fulfilled.

I made a bulb to LED conversion in an Atlas bulb-lit car. These cars have steel wheels, and wiper strips that rub on the axles to pick up track power. Then there is a screw that goes through the strips, passing power to a nut inside the car. Another screw goes in the top of the nut and passes power to a bar containing the bulb. I removed the bar and ran the wires from a 6-LED strip to each screw on top of the nuts holding the trucks on. Voila LED lighting. I used some of these parts from an Atlas car to convert a Con-Cor car. This would work with less flicker with a capacitor in line.
The Kato cars work generally better if I run newly lit up cars for a few hours constantly at about half power. Break in?


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Kato lit trains.


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## SF Gal (11 mo ago)

I do not think the flickering will get any better with a break in...maybe worse as the wheels will start picking up dirt.
Without a cap, and that is hard to do with an interior in N scale, I am afraid the scale will dictate the final outcome and what you will have to live with.
Having said that, here is some food for thought....


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks for that video. Some really good and detailer methods of assembling perfect lighting. I found some six-LED strips that claimed to have a capacitor and rectifier included, at 5 strips for $20. Leaving me to get power from the track. The Atlas system kinda-sorta works, but a better way using copper strips has to be found. The Kato system requires frequent adjustments and does not give this level of light. I have a couple of Con-Cor passenger trains I have that I would like to light up. The cars with people glued into them opened my eyes to the interior, even if it's hard to see, and this video urges thinking about the decor, upholstery, etc. This is a way of spending time emjoyably. I have a dozen passenger trains. Compared to the video's trains' lighting the Kato system is hopeless. I am still thinking of ways to incorporate good LED strips into them.


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

SF Gal said:


> I do not think the flickering will get any better with a break in...maybe worse as the wheels will start picking up dirt.
> Without a cap, and that is hard to do with an interior in N scale, I am afraid the scale will dictate the final outcome and what you will have to live with.
> Having said that, here is some food for thought....


I have been considering this video and its ideas beyond the electronics, although it does give the best ideas I have seen for lighting N scale passenger cars. Decorating the interior would mean researching the original decor of the passenger trains you have. I will have to pore over books I have or can get access to to find decor schemes in UP, Santa Fe, Amtrak, Burlington Northern, filing a notch in the Kato coupler ennsylvania, Canadian National and Southern Pacific in the 1940s to 1970s. Painting these interiors would be a lifetime job, but perhaps better than leaving the car interiors beige. Usually either the whold body shell or the roof with side glass comes off, so that the interior can be accessed. It is possible to detail the interior, but I might not live long enough to get around to building a layout with scenery. Plenty of stuff to do. 

The Kato cars have a lighting system, but some of the LED modules they sell are brighter than others, but are pretty good in many cases. Real electronic work can be done on Atlas and Con-Cor cars. I bought five LED strips that were claimed to have components to eliminate polarity and flickering issues, but they don't get there, so to get the best lighting as in the video, you have to build the circuit, but it offers good guidance on building the lighting circuit. My electronics knowledge is pretty much 1970s.


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Lighting the car with LED didn't show the passengers or show off the interior.


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