Flickering ash pan

Flickering ash pan was on all Right of Way steamers except the dockside.  They were the first locos with that feature.  Subsequently other manufacturers began using flickering firebox glow but, in reality, steam locomotives don't run with the firebox doors open full time.  

Lou N

If you wanted to make your own micro LEDs are available that flicker. Search eBay for "micro flickering led". They are available in several colors including red and orange. Add a small buck voltage regulator and several micro LEDS arrayed around the edge of the ash pan just out of view from outside the loco and your in business. As for firebox glow as Lou says they were seldom open when running so who cares. I do think a red orange flickering glow coming from the edges of the ash pan looks cool,or is that hot, and is easy to create.  Related:  How many know that you can hook 7~10 leds in a series and connect directly to 18v AC and they will work just fine without a regulator. Just keep them connected + - + - + - and if you don't add a capacitor they flicker as you run down the track. If you are running DCS you need to add a 22uh choke also.  You can dim them with a resistor or just add more leds to the string and they get dimmer. In fact the flickering gets more pronounced as they get dimmer.  One concern with hooking all those leds in a series is the DC offset that they create you could make two groups of 7~10 leds and wire them so the + and - of each string were opposite one another.  That would nul any DC offset.  I have some flickering micro leds but have never tried to string them in a series. Wonder what would happen.  If someone tries it let us know how it works.                       j

Lionel's Pennsy K4 1361 almost 20 years ago. (The glow)

Not sure this is what you are asking about, but the recent S3 offerings from Lionel(2017 V2), had “ash pan glow” I think.  Here’s a short video clip.

I think this is a feature on a number of scale Lionel steam  engines

DAYLIGHT is right, lots of Lionel steamers have ash pan glow.

JohnActon posted:

If you wanted to make your own micro LEDs are available that flicker. Search eBay for "micro flickering led". They are available in several colors including red and orange. Add a small buck voltage regulator and several micro LEDS arrayed around the edge of the ash pan just out of view from outside the loco and your in business. As for firebox glow as Lou says they were seldom open when running so who cares. I do think a red orange flickering glow coming from the edges of the ash pan looks cool,or is that hot, and is easy to create.  Related:  How many know that you can hook 7~10 leds in a series and connect directly to 18v AC and they will work just fine without a regulator. Just keep them connected + - + - + - and if you don't add a capacitor they flicker as you run down the track. If you are running DCS you need to add a 22uh choke also.  You can dim them with a resistor or just add more leds to the string and they get dimmer. In fact the flickering gets more pronounced as they get dimmer.  One concern with hooking all those leds in a series is the DC offset that they create you could make two groups of 7~10 leds and wire them so the + and - of each string were opposite one another.  That would nul any DC offset.  I have some flickering micro leds but have never tried to string them in a series. Wonder what would happen.  If someone tries it let us know how it works.                       j

Regarding the highlighted comments above:  my first experience with power stokers was when we moved Reading 2100 from Rook Yard in Pittsburgh to Brewster Ohio.  The steam jets distributing the coal is an amazing sight; like a machine gun. Not something you want open for more than a few seconds to check the fire.

One series connecting flicker LEDs, use one flicker LED in series with conventional LEDs.  That seems to work.  

Regards,

Lou N

Flickering LED's require constant power as there is a tiny electronic circuit that provides the flickering.

Lou N posted:

JohnActon posted:

If you wanted to make your own micro LEDs are available that flicker. Search eBay for "micro flickering led". They are available in several colors including red and orange. Add a small buck voltage............ 

Regarding the highlighted comments above:  my first experience with power stokers was when we moved Reading 2100 from Rook Yard in Pittsburgh to Brewster Ohio.  The steam jets distributing the coal is an amazing sight; like a machine gun. Not something you want open for more than a few seconds to check the fire.

One series connecting flicker LEDs, use one flicker LED in series with conventional LEDs.  That seems to work.  

Regards,

Lou N

 

 I live in Birmingham AL. and back in the 70s ~ 90s   Southern RR and then Norfolk Southern starting in 82 ran a very active steam shop in Irondale on the east side of Birmingham.  Railroads were not so anal back then and I would go out to the Norris Yards steam shop at least once a week to make photos and got to know some of the guys who did the rebuilds on their steam roster.  The day they rolled out 611 they let me in the cab while they fired her up so I know exactly what you are talking about with the steam jets and the ability to blow the coal to any point on the grate.  I tried to make photos through the open firebox doors hand holding a medium format camera. It just wasn't going to happen and none of those shots were worth more than a contact sheet.  But I do have some very good shots of 611, 4501, 2716 in Southern livery, 1218, Savannah & Atlantic 750, T&P 610 which they leased for about a year. Someone started a discussion about best steam loco shots a week or so back and I intended to post a few shots but nearly all my loco images are in Nikon NEF format from a film scanner and opening them in Nikon Scan4 software to convert to jpeg is slow and time consuming but it's on the bucket list.          J

Western Maryland Scenic many years ago.  Stoker and steam jets were working well.   The fireman had to shovel the back two corners of the firebox.  Those two (holes) if not covered properly with coal would change the firebox drafting.  A little practice to hook the corner with the shovel.   

Even with the stoker there was a lot of work.