Lionel #450 Signal Bridge Restoration

If your modeling your area of the BNSF then of course the one in silver. Are you could do it anyway you want that's what's great about this Hobby. If you were going retro then I would probably do it Back in Black

My opinion only, the silver with smoked areas would look spectacular.  Great idea.

Chris S.

Thanks for the inputs. Still conflected, I can go either way. As Johnny the robot in the movie Short Circuit says, "Need more input".

I'm bumping this back up since I posted this in the late evening west coast time.  I'm going to shoot the self-etching primer today. But I'm torn between the black and silver. I don't want to re-blast the bridge if I don't have too. I've decided to stay with the #53 incandescent lamps. 5mm leds are too small and 8mm leds are too large for the housing holes.

I tend to like the silver idea. The brighter the better!

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

If you don't like the Lionel signal heads, you could make your own, like I did. You can find the parts on eBay.

artyoung posted:

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

I too have replaced my 450 bridge lamps with Town & Country LED bulbs.  The work, fit and look great.

shorling posted:

artyoung posted:

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

I too have replaced my 450 bridge lamps with Town & Country LED bulbs.  The work, fit and look great.

You have a link please?

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

If you don't like the Lionel signal heads, you could make your own, like I did. You can find the parts on eBay.

I like the idea very much. I'm going to see how things work out, but I may go this route.

Town and Country Hobbies

John H posted:

Town and Country Hobbies

Thank you! Bulbs have been ordered.

I opted to paint it in silver. Please tell me what you think.

Front side

Back side

Jayhawk500 posted:

shorling posted:

artyoung posted:

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

I too have replaced my 450 bridge lamps with Town & Country LED bulbs.  The work, fit and look great.

You have a link please?

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

If you don't like the Lionel signal heads, you could make your own, like I did. You can find the parts on eBay.

I like the idea very much. I'm going to see how things work out, but I may go this route.

I just noticed...Did you stretch that bridge (combine 2 bridges) to go over those 3 sets of tracks? 

Chris, yeah I did stretch that bridge to span three tracks. I cut a second bridge in half, removed the one leg and spliced them together. You can read about it here.

BTW, I like the silver. 

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Chris, yeah I did stretch that bridge to span three tracks. I cut a second bridge in half, removed the one leg and spliced them together. You can read about it here.

BTW, I like the silver. 

I like what you did to the bridge, and Thanks for the liking of the silver. Now I just need to find new spring clips for the grounds.

All finished but the wiring. I have new center contacts for the sockets coming. Just ordered new spring clips for the grounds, and I have the LED bulbs on order as well.

With flash on

With flash off

If you are interested I have some junker signal bridges for a sale.  Send me an email if you are interested.  I  stretched my 450's also.  I just put a 3/4 x ? wood in the center after I cut them in half.  I didn't care how the center looked since the center was covered.  I used a lot of them to support my second level.

shorling posted:

artyoung posted:

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

I too have replaced my 450 bridge lamps with Town & Country LED bulbs.  The work, fit and look great.

Looks great in silver...

  Just curious, exactly which bulbs did you order for the 450?  I’m ordering LED1445s & 1447s for my O22 switches, are 1445s the same size as the L53s in the 450 bridge?

Thanks!

Tom

FlyPlanes-PlayTrains posted:

shorling posted:

artyoung posted:

You can get direct replacement red or green LED bulbs to match the #53's from Town & Country Hobbies, among other sources. I've replaced all my original bulbs in everything with LED bulbs and have no complaints.

I too have replaced my 450 bridge lamps with Town & Country LED bulbs.  The work, fit and look great.

Looks great in silver...

  Just curious, exactly which bulbs did you order for the 450?  I’m ordering LED1445s & 1447s for my O22 switches, are 1445s the same size as the L53s in the 450 bridge?

Thanks!

Tom

Thank you for liking the silver.

I ordered the LED-1445G and LED-1445R. After doing some research they are physically the same size. The 1445 has different ratings than the #53's. But since these are LED's, none of that matters, only the size. The 1445 is a bayonet base and is 14.4 volts and a 2000 hour bulb, the 1447 is a screw in base and is 18 volts and a 250 hour bulb. The #53 is basically the same as the 1445 but is a 1000 hour bulb.

shorling posted:

If you are interested I have some junker signal bridges for a sale.  Send me an email if you are interested.  I  stretched my 450's also.  I just put a 3/4 x ? wood in the center after I cut them in half.  I didn't care how the center looked since the center was covered.  I used a lot of them to support my second level.

I'm going to pass for now. But I'll keep that in mind.

Thank you

I received everything I need to add the electrics to the signal bridge. I got my 1447 LED bulbs from Town and Country Hobbies. I got new BA9S sockets mainly for the center contact and fiber insulator. So now I'm having to think of how to wire this... I have a plan, but I would like to see if there is a simpler way to do this. Please see the PDF, This is how I currently have the red LED wired using a separate breadboard for the resistor and diode, that you can see at the bottom of the photo. I want to put everything in the bridge piling if possible.

My plan is to use one resistor in the ground circuit and use 2 diodes in each circuit for the positive lead to the LED.  OR, is there a simpler way to wire this. I'm using GRJ's Insulated Track Signal Driver. I have one for each side.

Also, I'm unsure of J3...Do I need to ground pins A and B to get this to work. The bridge framing is ground, or do I just leave the pins empty?

Thanks

The Town & Country Lionel LED's are direct replacement bulbs and run on AC.  You don't need a diode to convert to DC or current limiting resistors.  The diode and resistor are built into the base of the bulb.

Thank you! That makes things easy!