Today I have made photos of the layout lights which have been connected up after many years. I had fitted lights to most of the buildings of Dunalistair almost 20 years ago, and when I rebuilt Rae Bridge, I fitted lights there as well. There still is some work to be done at Rae Bridge, such as signal lamps and one or two buildings. Inverlochan and Glenclachan have lights as well, those at the colliery dating back over 20 years.
I put in a four-strand cable to connect Rae Bridge with the power unit under Dunalistair. The 2amp transformer has outputs for 0, 6, 14 and 20 volts which I have carried everywhere so I can tune the brightness of each light individually. Some lights are made up with LEDs or 1.5V bulbs which have to be fed over a resistor. I spent some time tweaking the feed of the 1.5V signal lights at Inverlochan so they would brighten up without being overloaded. It took me some calculating using Ohm's Law I=U/R to get the correct value for three lights in parallel.
Anyway, enough talk - let's move to the photos!
The signal box at Rae Bridge, with the L&M Kitson arriving on a late service.
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The distillery yard, offering a view of the storage warehouse interior:
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The signal box, with the new railmotor going up the branch:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183741.jpg&hash=c12a453bfeea73be36202c4362f784bf242def34)
The station building, with the late railcar service from Craigcorrie arriving:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173716.jpg&hash=dd3f8fe01463460656f3cc2fbdcfc38843be5da4)
Some years ago I made the following photos of Rae Bridge works. Here is the works building early on a winter morning, with the smithy and the circular saw at work:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FdPICT3425.jpg&hash=5902a405e2b1818d943411b23f2b0740c4385f4c)
And the loco shed with the inspection pit lights on:
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More to follow!
Fantastic!
Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, I just love the atmosphere of the photos, night is just coming on, the lights have come on and just gorgeous. :o The first photo of the signal tower made me think "It would be nice to go up there and share a cup of coffee with the operator and have some good conversation on life the world and every thing".
Thanks for sharing,
Andre
Portland Oregon
Thanks, all. On the other forum I received some comments on the brightness of the lights in some of the views. Especially the signal box is too brightly lit. All that would have been on in real practice is a shaded light over the desk, to avoid blinding the signalman when he has to look out of the window.
This brightness is a trade-off - if I reduce the brightness you won't be able to see the interior of some of the buildings. In reality most of the lights are so dim that you won't see them with any sort of outside light coming into the room. It has to be pretty dark to show them off.
Also, the images have been tweaked to some extent, since the camera doesn't handle low light levels the way the human eye does. One thing I did, which may be evident in some of the photos, is point a shaded light towards the ceiling of the room to provide some background light. In the past I even used a blue overhead lamp, as I will show later in some old photos. If you want to bring out some surrounding detail, inevitably you need to boost the gamma control on the picture editor. This will brighten up the interior lights as well.
I will now show the late railcar service as it proceeds up the line to Inverlochan. First it passes the ruined winding house, with the cottage below Glenclachan siding in the foreground. I notice that some of the windows in the cottage should be blanked off still.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173674.jpg&hash=dd67e6df326bd73a62d9c00997b3627e388803c8)
Here it is just after departure from Glenclachan Road, which has an oil lamp inside the shelter and a single lamp on the platform. Please ignore the passengers left on the platform - I cannot move everything out of the way! In practice this is a very dark area, with just the dim lights showing the position of the platform. Some locos have a large searchlight which is a great help, even to me when operating trains after dark!
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173667.jpg&hash=7c665baebee4794c2d6b33535a5d504fbf4b68f7)
The next image is really my favourite - it shows the railcar set passing the splitting home signal on Inverlochan Moor in the dusk. The signal is lit by three 1.5V lamps, painfully wired up. I dread the moment I will have to wire up lights on the 7 signal arms at Rae Bridge!
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173661.jpg&hash=d5497469f0329240f4829ccc4fd956546d6f5788)
Finally, here is the railcar waiting in the platform at Inverlochan.
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To round it off, here are two views of the colliery in the darkness, shown previously in the colliery thread.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173677.jpg&hash=7f50c2d47234d40b958e25f86a83ee44c7054ab8)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3173682.jpg&hash=b08615c2e27ac4f02e43de4879146a23f99a8205)
Well done Ted, very atmospheric.
Roger
Very atmospheric!
Seeing the photographs and discussion reminds me of the story one of the volunteers of the "Whisky Line" (Keith and Dufftown Railway) related. OK it is not NG, but the atmosphere is the same.
When electric light was introduced on the railway, in the carriages, evening entertainment for the inhabitants of Keith was to buy a ticket from Keith Town to Keith Junction (less than 1 km) to experience this marvel!
Ted, you clever man!
;D I suppose it must have been the same everywhere, when people first experienced electric lights.
I made three new photos showing the lights nearly at their proper intensity. As a consequence they are a little dim, but that's what darkness is supposed to be.
Compare to the others.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183779.jpg&hash=503cff17c20abe23e988a67335995338ab2caed1)
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The main thing that can be said is that the signal box is too bright. However, lighting it with just a pinprick in one corner is no option. That trade-off again. Also, the light looks more reddish or yellowish than it really is. The camera changes it.
Ted,
The yellow glow gives the impression of either an oil lamp or real early electric lights and I think that it is just right. As to how much light is to much and how much is not enough, well that make the term modeling and this more art than engineering. Some times you have to exaggerate something to make it look right, for example boiler bands on a steam locomotive, if you made them scale thickness you could not see them so you make them thicker so the eye can see them. It is the same way with the lighting effects, sometimes brighter than it should be, sometimes more yellow than it should and some time all of this and other things have to be added just to make it look right.
Like I said on the other web site, the brightness and color just invite me into the scene. :o :D
Andre
Thanks, Andre - I hope you also like the following photos.
Finally, we have arrived at Dunalistair. This is difficult to photograph in the dark, since it is situated under the Inverlochan area of the layout. I needed to remove some unwanted intrusions from the 'sky' using Photoshop, such as the frames of the upper layout level.
Here the railcar set arrives at Dunalistair, passing the home bracket near the lighthouse.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183767.jpg&hash=f9cca4fc2240d7654433335d2bca83c8036a243d)
The railcar at the platform end, with the paddle steamer ready to depart, still with all the deck lights and the light in the wheelhouse switched on.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183748.jpg&hash=d50441de3ef132891f76fc915de7b222a5592b62)
Shunting at the dockside, with the warehouse platform brightly lit by an arc lamp:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183749.jpg&hash=63a80921c97db98f3fc47a3e9d5511a1f67cc914)
The slipway is dimly lit - please ignore the crew members still at work painting in the darkness! There is a glow in the firebox of the donkey engine at the top of the slipway. The Kitson is at work shunting a wagon.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183758.jpg&hash=4020cfd64ebeeb5e1fc0ade51a969abaccb6327b)
Another arc lamp, or possibly an acetylene light, shines into the hold of Renfrew Lass as the last coal of the day is dropped down the chute.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fgallery74%2Fimages%2FP3183762.jpg&hash=155f1a780aa1833b8111494560d3ffc77ffb76f5)
Finally, a view of the lights in the town houses, and far to the left, the Caledonia Foundry.
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Oh, I do love every single one of those images!