Atlas Ditch lights

[trainwreck100]

I have an Atlas Dash8-40BW, with the DCC chip that was installed already. It's old enough that it didn't come with ditch lights though. What kind of lights should I add to it , and how do I get the body off?:curse:

 

[KCS]

ummm i'm not for sure b/c i dont own any atlas loco's but there are only three things i can think of for getting the shell off. one is the standard pull the shell out wards by the fuel tank. two are clips underneath (on the bottom) of the loco down inside small holes(screw driver required for this) three is screw a screw mounted body. underneath like the second method is screws down in under the fuel tank. oh i forgot one. this method is like the AC4400 atherns in which you have to remove the couplers, box plate and screws. this type however the couplers are pretty hard to put back on afterwards if you dont have small fingers. now as far as the ditch lights go i normally make my own light kit and buy the ditch light housing's if they are not already on the loco. most of my locos have fiber optical thread that is attached to bright white LED's. this method is a bit hard b/c it requires some care to sand the led's and optical thread and then use less than a drop of clear model cement so it doesnt have any scratch's in either the LED or thread. get a copy of Model Railroader, December,04'. vol.71 issue 12 and look on page 98 and it has a great artical on how to do this. (Note: the artical talkes about head lights not ditch lights) but i was able to use the same method. have fun and good luck.

Charles

 

[Freelancer]

I am definitely not an expert in this area, but I just installed some in an Athearn and used 1.5V 15mA 1.2mm Diameter bulbs from Miniatronics corp. I used the existing Ditch light housings, and just drilled the center out of them (they were just the plastic molded ones for asthetic effect and not intended for actual use) I am using a Digitrax DH163 decoder and put the lights in a (series?) with a 1/4 watt 825 ohm resistor. The lights are quite dim so I think that I will put a 750 ohm on instead. It isn't anything like an Atlas, but if you want, I could take some pics of it for you.

If you go with the fiber optics you could light both of the ditch lights with one bulb. However, if you want them to flash, you will need to install two seperate lights instead.

Freelancer