Has anyone added lights to a work caboose?

Personally, I'd power them from the track, I abhor solutions with batteries as you always find they're dead just when you want to use them.   I would obviously only take a couple of LEDs to light that decently, it's a pretty small space.

 

 

Eric,

I have done a few powered from the track. I used frosted window material. I switched out the rear truck with a truck w/power pickup. Inside the cab you can use most any bulb holder.

Rechargeable battery and leds work best for me. I hate the flickering from using track power. Hook rechargeable battery to recharge from track power

Flickering from track power is solved with a 20 cent electrolytic capacitor, not much of an issue.

 

I also prefer track power over batteries. There are many discussions here on the forum about LEDs and adding them to rolling stock and other items.

While I haven't added interior LED lights to any cars yet, I have added two exterior LED lights (front and rear) to my customized MTH Jersey Central wreck crane as pictured below.

 

I used bright LED's from Evan Designs (Forum sponsor) to represent "floodlights" for night work.  They are powered from the track as I swapped out the stock MTH trucks for MTH caboose trucks with power pick-ups (i.e. rollers).

 

I also added two micro, push-button On/Off switches underneath the frame (also from Evan) so that I can turn the front and back lights on or off independently, or turn both work lights off while the crane is being hauled in a train.

 

You may want to use smaller-sized and/or "softer" lights for your work caboose interior lighting.  Evan Designs offers many options to choose from!

 

Good luck with your project, Eric...and please post some pictures when it's completed!

 

This should be easier to modify than I thought. The caboose shell comes off the deck with four screws. There is already a molded in light bulb holder and the deck floor already has a pass through hole for the wires going to the truck. Now I just have to canibilize a truck with rollers and lights from another caboose.

A work caboose in progress, an economical conglomerate from the parts bin, which I now fondly refer to as Mitch-bashing.  I went with simple grain o wheat bulbs in series for the interior and porch lighting.  The adaptation of an MTH ETD truck supplied the hot lead.  It's another of those unfinished projects way down on the priority list.

Bruce