Vista dome lighting suggestions

I light it about the same intensity as the rest of the car.  I populate those with my "better" passengers as they're much more visible.   You can a series resistor to "tune" the lighting level of the dome if it's too bright.

Dumb question, but where do you put the lights, on the ceiling or floor?  I don't currently have a vista dome but I may buy one.

As per an idea posted by GRJ on this forum a few years back, I slipped a section of light strip beside the outer row of seats and outside wall giving a sort of floor level lighting effect. A six LED piece of strip fit perfectly. Here is a picture test fitting the sections before painting the interior.

A suggestion for @upguyy:, identify the brand of passenger car you are lighting since the dome interiors among the diiferent manufacturers are not uniform in their construction. 

From a prototypical standpoint, the lights in a real dome would be pretty dim to allow passengers to all see out the windows at night. On a model though, it can look kind of goofy to have a bright car and dim dome. If accuracy is what you want, dim is best, if consistency is more your speed, make them bright. Below are some photos of dome cars at night (sorry for the low quality, these are screenshots from one of my Youtube videos).

Here is a pic I took of a Cuyahoga Valley dome at Fitzwater yard after a run of a Christmas train. 

If the come car has a place down the center of the ceiling for the light strip, that's where I put it.  If it's all glass dome, then you have to get a little more creative.

As far as prototypical brightness, this is an area that I personally don't really consider.  The whole point of lighting the dome is so your carefully placed passengers can be seen.  That being the case, I want it bright enough to see the detail inside.  I don't have it sunlight-bright, but decently lit.

@VistaDomeScott posted:

Here is a pic I took of a Cuyahoga Valley dome at Fitzwater yard after a run of a Christmas train. 

Thanks, Scott.  Terrific photo.