ops: [:-ashamed]Do they have tail lights on them if so how would i go about fitting some on my stock are they just red leds or somthing else and how would i pick up power using DCC please ty.mikeCabose tail lights?
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ops: [:-ashamed]Do they have tail lights on them if so how would i go about fitting some on my stock are they just red leds or somthing else and how would i pick up power using DCC please ty.mikeMike: North American trains all had a pair of red markers at the back. They were mounted on the corners of the caboose about head height (for a man on the platform). Not sure if there was a light facing forward, but they did stick out diagonally. Same arrangement on all passenger cars.
Later developments involved electric lights mounted in the bodywork. Latest version is a thingie stuck to the coupler.
You might try using a guards van lamp; not quite right right close. See if anyone notices!
Story: Local railway club took their private car on a trip. On the way back, the train was a modern one (for 1970s) with the electric markers, and they didn't have any lanterns. Finally left with two red kerosene lamps sitting inside the railing on the rear platform.
Later developments involved electric lights mounted in the bodywork. Latest version is a thingie stuck to the coupler.
You might try using a guards van lamp; not quite right right close. See if anyone notices!
Story: Local railway club took their private car on a trip. On the way back, the train was a modern one (for 1970s) with the electric markers, and they didn't have any lanterns. Finally left with two red kerosene lamps sitting inside the railing on the rear platform.
I think that the modern lights on the back of cars are called FRED'S (Not sure what it stands for) but I don't know if they were used on cabooses or not??
The FRED (Flashing Rear End Device) is used now in place of a caboose. They appeared at about the same time that the caboose went away.
One of the guys at the local modular club fitted his caboose with micro-LEDs by drilling holes in the roofline (as per David's description of more modern body-mounted lights, above). He also controlled them with a decoder. If you want to do something simpler, try a microswitch and a 9V battery...
Andrew
Andrew
Mike: I may have misled you. I just checked a couple of pictures and the lanterns seem to stand off to the side of the caboose. Also seem to have(at least) 3 lenses. So guards van lamp would work.
Can a FRED be had in HO? I think it would be cool to have for my modern freights, even though I do have a nice BN caboose
I have seen a guy who puts them on the back of containers for double stacks with the FRED lights on them. They are I think $14.99 each and he said that they are custom so I think that they are not available anywere else.
They are HO scale.
Try going to ebay and typing in FRED
They are HO scale.
Try going to ebay and typing in FRED
Although not like the prototype, there are custom built cars on ebay with FRED's. These mount on the car itself, not to the coupler. Or so it looks with only a quick glance. They don't have any really nice pics of the mount
MR had a scratch-building article a while abck on how to make non-working (scale size) and working (slightly oversize to allow for electronics) FREDs.
David - the way the marker lights were on the caboose depends on era. Older practice was indeed a "three-sided" lamp on the outside corner of the rear of the caboose. I believe the lenses were red-rear, green-front, and white to the side. Later cabooses had lights built into the roofline...
Andrew
David - the way the marker lights were on the caboose depends on era. Older practice was indeed a "three-sided" lamp on the outside corner of the rear of the caboose. I believe the lenses were red-rear, green-front, and white to the side. Later cabooses had lights built into the roofline...
Andrew
I have marker lights on all of my HO cabooses, (cabeese)? All but 2 are brass non-functional. The other 2 are made by a company that I can't think of the name of off the top of my head. The name "Adlake" keeps popping up, but I wouldn't gaurantee it. These kits come with the lights, a bracket to mount a 9 volt battery in inside the car, and the wiring and a microswitch for the bottom of the car. They look really sharp!! By the way, all of the RR. employees that were put out of work by the FRED, had a different word for the "F". As far as I know, FRED's were never mounted on cabeese. Thier job was to eliminate the need for a caboose.
Dick
Texas Chief
Dick
Texas Chief
Thankyou all for you time and help as always very greatful for the very good info made my life easier that means a lot big ty .
Ok - this isn't exactly prototypical but I've been thinking about doing the same thing in Nscale using a battery operated blinking red light from my kid's toothbrush. The tooth brush - about $2 - came with a red blinking rice sized light, battery operated with a spring switch. Once the light/battery was removed from the toothbrush, the entire thing can mount inside a 40' boxcar with the leads from the battery to the light fitting between the boxcar shell top and bottom frame after a very small amount of filing midpoint on the frame's end. I thought if I painted the light to mimic a FRED, it would look better than the 360 degree light it gives off now. It's a work in progress - I haven't finished working out all the details yet and modifying my boxcar to handle it (haven't had the time) - but it was just an inexpensive idea thrown in.