Starry, Starry Night

[Tigger]

December 29th.  It's actually not all that starry.  It's been sleeting on and off all day, the clouds are low over the Ffernol Valley and heavy snow is forecast.  The Big Hunslet has been prepared and stands ready, hissing and sizzling to herself in the dark of the cold December evening, with her new snowplough fitted and the wagon-mounted plough coupled in the rear.  As soon as the down passenger train has arrived she will start on the first night run to Tawel-Llety.  It will be 2

[pilotfriend]

Nice shot Tigger. Happy New Year to all

[Tigger]

Many thanks John.  I'd like to be able to say that this photo was the result of hours of setting up, many failed attempts and further hours on post-production work in Photoshop.  The truth is that set-up and photography actually took no more than 15 minutes overall, about five takes because I was experimenting trial & error with a torch to illuminate the loco and only a few minutes in Photoshop just to tidy up the bottom left-hand corner to disguise the raw edge where I'd removed the loco shed to get the shot (so other than that, it's exactly at taken).  Half an hour in total!  Almost annoyingly easy but I do like it when a plan comes together!

[invercloy]

And photos like that are why I'd like to light my new layout! :)

Very nice indeed.

Happy New Year all!

[Tigger]

Many thanks Tom.  It's very satisfying to do.  Way back when I was still at school I was using lighting in Superquick buildings on my first layout - I must have been 13 or 14 and I was desperate to start using coloured lighting and dimmer switches to give sunset and sunrise effects.  I remember at an Easter show at Central Hall in the early 1970s seeing a layout called Kusnachtusserbahn (or something similar) and the night sequence captivated me.  A trip to Pendon in 1974 when I was designing the L&TR encouraged me further (in all ways, not just lighting) and then in 1976 I acquired a second-hand Model Railroader which showcased John Allen's masterpiece layout 'Gorre & Dapherid' (see http: //www.gdlines.com/ ).  I didn't actually get around to installing lighting until the mid 1980s although I'd made provision for it when I built the structures in 1975/76.  Then came six 60 watt lamps for dedicated room lighting on a dimmer switch and a pair of blue spots aimed at the ceiling to give a blue moonlight glow.  As Andrew Hall will testify, the layout can be operated in complete darkness with only the building lights switched on (not even the moon glow!)  Years ago I built a pair of shunter's lamps for use when coupling and uncoupling trains but I now use illuminated shunting poles similar to the ones which Charlie Insley uses (and that's where I pinched the idea!)  Incidentally, further to my last comment, this morning I spent a few minutes enhancing this photo by Photoshopping in the light from the headlamp and the glow from the oil lamp on the plough!  It really give the photo some life now!

[tedp]

They had real winters back in the 1950s - not like the present one! Oops - I forgot the last two that were almost as bad! Best wishes for the new year to all of you, by the way.

A very atmospheric shot, David - I saw the photoshopped one in my email earlier on. And I agree night operation is very interesting. I should be operating the layout more seriously, and also use a dimmer.

I have fitted lights in Dunalistair and Rae Bridge, and even the colliery at Inverlochan is fitted with lights, but much of it isn't yet connected up to the main ring circuit which has four voltages to cater for various types of interior light. The signals at Dunalistair and Inverlochan are lit as well. Rae Bridge still has to be 'done'.

The dimmer idea is a good one, but nowadays I fear one has to use LEDs instead of light bulbs. The sale of ordinary light bulbs is restricted in this country, and incandescant lights cannot be dimmed. Halogen spots seem to be the next in line to be banned. A blue ceiling light is what I used in a video of my layout, but I wonder if they're still for sale.

[Hugh Norwood]

You can get LED lights strips of useable brightness. I saw a layout at the recent Leeds Show lit by such. It has the advantages of lightness (i.e. not heavy) no heat to speak off, and it can be dimmed.

It was what I was looking to use for my layout, but wasn't avaliable when I got some cheap halogen lights.
(I can supply  a web-link if anyone is interested, but I have no first-hand experience of these)

Ted, I think you meant to say fluorescent lights can't be dimmed?

[Tigger]

They had real winters back in the 1950s - not like the present one! Oops - I forgot the last two that were almost as bad!

Last summer was almost as bad!

Thanks for the compliment Ted.  I've been encouraged by the success of this shot to try some similar photos at other locations on the layout, perhaps using a less intense light.

I'm still using the original 60 watt lamps I installed in the room years ago and have another complete set laid in as replacements for when they eventually fail although I believe we can still get 60W lamps over here.  They also have the advantage that they go towards the red end of the spectrum when dimmed, giving a sunset effect.  At sunrise of course the light is bluer, it's all down to the doppler effect on light (so, Hugh, Terry Pratchett's theory of Discworld light has some basis in our part of the Muntiverse...) and for that I just leave the blue spots illuminated.

I'd encourage anyone with a layout to see if they can run night sessions, especially if lighting has been installed (and even more so with lit signals, Ted!)

I think I've got a spare blue spot but I'm going to check!  We can still get ordinary 60w spots for desk lamps.

People who know me on the 7

[Tigger]

Actually, if folks are interested I'll post the photoshopped photo here.

[Hugh Norwood]

I'm still using the original 60 watt lamps I installed in the room years ago and have another complete set laid in as replacements for when they eventually fail although I believe we can still get 60W lamps over here.  They also have the advantage that they go towards the red end of the spectrum when dimmed, giving a sunset effect.  At sunrise of course the light is bluer, it's all down to the doppler effect on light (so, Hugh, Terry Pratchett's theory of Discworld light has some basis in our part of the Muntiverse...) and for that I just leave the blue spots illuminated.

I don't think it's the Doppler effect! The relative speed isn't great enough. I would guess it would have something to do with there being less dust in the cold early morning air than in the late evening air scattering less light, if anything.

[Graeme Dunbar]

I'd agree with it being dust and other particles having an effect on the light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset#Colors
Also the relative amount of light being reflected off clouds when the sun is near the horizon compared to that reaching the viewer directly.

There are also non-physics effects too. I understand that our colour perception is not absolute - we do not have "perfect pitch" regarding light frequency and the perceived colour of an object is affected by its surroundings. I've seen incredibly blue shadows in snow as the sun goes down and the colour of car headlamps seem to change on dark mornings as the sun comes up.

[tedp]

Well, I decided to post my night photos as well. Here they come:





As David did, I used a blue light bulb and the layout lights. These shots were taken with an old-fashioned camera and Kodacolor film, many years ago.

The incandescent lamps I referred to were wrongly termed. I meant both fluorescent strip lights and modern energy saving lights, which in essence are the same. Incandescent lamps are the filament types we used for many years. Learned something else...

Fluorescent lamps cannot be dimmed the ordinary way. If you reduce the voltage, somewhere along the line they will simply flicker or go out.

[Tigger]

Wonderful, wonderful atmosphere Ted.  These two are most definitely worthy of John Allen.

[Tigger]

So how do I shunt the railway at night?  A picture is worth a thousand words folks, so you can breathe a sigh of relief that I'm going to post three photos which I believe will speak for themselves!  All I will say is that I pinched the idea from Charlie Insley and the first photo was taken BEFORE I cleaned up the soldering to make it look acceptable!  I've now built six of these - three for myself and three for Buccabury and they work wonderfully.

[Tigger]

And this is nowhere near as good as Ted's photos but for what it's worth, Llanmynach shed at dusk.  This time the Big Hunslet's headlamp is for real - there was a large enough shunt across the circuit to enable me to get the lamp running without the loco moving.