Help with this Festiniog sign and LED lights

Mike,  Festinonog rings a bell from ages ago, but I can’t recall the story.  You were probably still wet behind the ears.  LOL

I’m glad you had the company this last week!  Where do they live?

No I have no experience with the lights.

Congrats on the visit w/ your granddaughter. Too young for trains maybe? 

If no one answers about the lights, maybe post the question to Stan on the electrical forum?

I'd like to get something like those to light up my basement G scale layout that runs underneath the O scale tables.

Hi guys, Mark the daughter and family are from Seattle, but we had my wife's brother from Joplin Missouri! He hasn't been here for years, so that brought out all the family and friends to our little piece of heaven! Been busy for that last 2 weeks with guest!

Joe, I was hopping Stan would see this if not I will repost in electrical. How many lights do you think you would need for under your layout?

That’s great, Mike!  I’m sure everyone had a great time!!  I have an aunt and uncle near Seattle, both their sons and their families live in the area also.  I’ve never been out to see them.

Mark Boyce posted:

That’s great, Mike!  I’m sure everyone had a great time!!  I have an aunt and uncle near Seattle, both their sons and their families live in the area also.  I’ve never been out to see them.

If you like water and green trees, its the place to come and see! If you do give me a heads up!

I would like to see the area someday.  We hope to be able to travel some when we retire.

Mark Boyce posted:

I would like to see the area someday.  We hope to be able to travel some when we retire.

Apparently the railway still operates in Wales.

mike g. posted:

….

Joe, ...How many lights do you think you would need for under your layout?

I'm not really sure. I wouldn't light every inch of the layout. Probably just the main viewing areas and I'd do it in sections at a time. I'd also have to see how the shadows and the amount of light needed depending on how bright and how much light they give.

 Off the top of my head I'd say two lengths, one wider area say under 15' long and the other adjacent narrows  and maybe 10' long??? 

I put two skinny LED under cabinet lights in those spots for now just to see better. I'd probably need a bunch more if I stayed with them. They light it up nice but it doesn't go very far.

The Festiniog Railroad, built in 1832 to haul slate from inland mines in Wales, England, was a pioneer narrow-gauge railroad initially powered by gravity and horses. Narrow-gauge railroads were attractive in isolated rural areas because they could be built more easily than standard gauge through difficult terrain and at lower cost. The Festiniog adopted steam power in 1863 and became the center of interest for prospective narrow-gauge railroad builders from around the world, including George Mansfield, of Massachusetts, who built the 8.63 mile, two-foot, narrow-gauge Billerica and Bedford Railroad in his home state when he returned to America in 1877. However, the railroad closed within six months and the equipment was moved to Maine, where it became the basis for the system of two-foot, narrow-gauge railroads which operated in the state until the 1930s and 1940s.

MELGAR

Thanks for the great information! I will try and find a nice place in the train room for the sign!

mike g. posted:

Also has anyone dealt with this small LED Light Strip, it has blue, red, green, and yellow wires. It was also given to me and there are 85 light of 3. If I can figure out how to wire them I thought it would be a great freebee for the layout!

Any help would be great!

Congrats on the new grandchild.   As for the lights, they actually have four wires if you look closely.  They are 12V three-color addressable LED's, and you can buy a matching controller on eBay to control them.

Hey Mike- Your grand daughter looks very content.

The lights look to me like a typical color changing (Red, Green, Blue, White) LED strip set, similar to rope lights without the outer plastic jacket. My guess is that any color-changing controller would run them but I can't say for sure.

I found this driver and remote kit on Amazon. I would clip on set off of the string and try it with a power supply. My guess is RGB wires for the colors and Y is common.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/prod...dEAkYESABEgIiifD_BwE

Bob

John, are these lights something that would work with your controller you made for lighting passenger cars? Thanks for the information!

Bob, I see the controller you are talking about and its a good price. I was thinking I could cut the string down and use them for lighting in some buildings with just a 12v wall wart. I guess I just have to figure out what wire lights what color. I was thinking if I used a DPDT switch I could get 2 colors out of it.

As for the granddaughter she is wonderful, really loves her grandpa so far! I hope she will like trains as much! LOL

You should be able to get a controller for a few bucks on eBay.  If you're cutting them apart, that's a different ballgame, then you need a controller for each string.  For lighting buildings, I suggest white LED's of your chosen color temperature, these are really for producing variable colors.  They aren't right for my passenger car lighting modules, these are different.

Thanks John, I thought I would ask as they were free and I cant beat free! $18 for a controller is a fair price which is the one Bob posted. I think I will go that way, but still play around with a few of them to see what I can come up with!

Thanks again John!

Well guys I got the official information on the sign from Ffestiniog Train Co.  Here is the story they told me!

Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Mike - It's one of the Ffestiniog Railway's official publicity posters from the 1930s - using the language and artistic interpretation of the landscape typical of advertising at this time in history...

Many Festiniog narrow gauge engineering practices were used in the first North American narrow gauge  railroad, the Toronto and Nippising.  The T&N even used some Fairlie locomotives just as did the Festiniog.  One in particular became quite famous in these parts, the Shedden, named after one of the T&N officials.  When the railroad became too busy to handle the amount of traffic, the little Shedden, a 0-6-6-0 saddle tank design was over taxed.  Holding the relief valve closed became a rumoured common occurrence.  You know where I'm going with this, eh?

the exact date escapes me but was in the mid 1870's, in the town of Stouffville, about 10 miles from where I live.  The explosion killed both the engineer and fireman, one of them ending up in a second story room of the station.  That was the end of the Shedden and by the 1880's the T&N was converted to standard gauge.

Bruce

Great story Bruce! Thanks for sharing it with me and the rest of the forum, I am sure some others will find it interesting as well!

My pleasure, Mike.  There's a pretty comprehensive book on the subject, Narrow Gauge Through the Bush, who's author is a regular at the annual  narrow gauge show and swap meet in this area.  An earlier book on the T&N called Narrow Gauge for Us exists.

The Shedden 's layout was such that it had 2 boilers and fireboxes, 2 stacks and 4 tanks.  A "push me, pull you" affair that Fairlie patented.  The poster illustrates an accurate likeness of the british Fairlie design.  The Shedden got the American treatment with formal herd parting pilots, diamond stacks and rectangular headlights.

Bruce

Quick correction.  Rather than being North America's first narrow railroad, the T&N was the first NG line in NA to provide passenger service, on July 13th 1871.

Bruce

mike g. posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

I would like to see the area someday.  We hope to be able to travel some when we retire.

Took Basic Training at Ft. Lewis, the Wettest Place On Earth in Oct - Dec then back to AIT Jan-Mar. Scared I was going to drown. 1967. Take raingear. Almost died from the heat in '68-69.

It appears the lighting might be usable in a building if you separate each three lite piece.

Dick 

Thanks Dick, Your right it does rain here some, but that's how it says so green most of the time! Yes it does get a little warm here from time to time. Right now it is 94 outside, which works for me! The wife hates it, that's why we have AC! LOL

Dick, Thank you for serving!  Mike knows I prayed for you fellows in Vietnam every night when I was in high school!  I should have been praying for everyone at Fort Lewis too!