Add an End of Train Light to Your Caboose

Please note that the end-of-train lights in this video DO NOT conform to my copy of the Rio Grande Operating Rule Book. Rule 19 states “The following signals will be displayed, one on each side of rear of train, as markers, to indicate the rear of train: By night, lighted marker lamps displaying yellow to front and side and red to rear.” A single red light in the center obviously violates this rule. But what the heck, it’s MY railroad!
Links to items mentioned in this video. (Note: I am NOT endorsing any particular product(s), nor am I compensated by or connected to any of the companies mentioned.) I do NOT guarantee that these links will give you the best available price! Consider these links to be a starting point for your search.
Kadee Caboose Trucks: www.kadee.com/catalogsearch/re...
Intermountain Wheelsets: www.intermountain-railway.com...
I don’t believe NWSL Super-Flex wire is available any more; you could use the NWSL Very Flexible wire, 30 gauge 28 strand, instead:
NWSL Very Flexible Wire: nwsl.com/products/wire-very-f... This wire is FANTASTIC for do-it-yourself decoder installations.
Conductive paint: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
NCE Light-It: www.ncedcc.com/online-store/L...
Great Planes Double Sided Foam Tape: www.amazon.com/Great-Planes-D...
1.25 mm JST Connectors: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
Miniatronics Micro Connectors: miniatronics.com/products/2-p...
NCE Supercaps: crazymodeltrains.com/nce-5240... or just Google “NCE 5240306”.
Evergreen Square Tubing: evergreenscalemodels.com/coll...
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This video was edited using Shotcut for Linux. Video footage and still images were recorded using a Galaxy A10e phone and a Nikon D7100 camera.

[@hirsutusi5536]

Some good ideas there, rhanks for sharing.

[@duanewhite3275]

Very good information. Thank You. With reference to the ACC accelerator, I use bsi brand, (that's what Hobby Lobby carries) and I use just the end of the spray tube which has maybe a drop on it and just touch the acc joint, or I use a small cheap paint brush from a dollar store. I agree with you, the spray nozzle is worthless for model building.

[@rwissbaum9849]

My "go to" applicator - for everything from glue to CA accelerator to decal setting solution - is a microbrush. I buy them by the hundred, and they come in three sizes: micro, small, and medium. If you look at the very end of my most recent video (No Handrails?), you can see a spot on the front end of the main body handrail where I applied some CA accelerator to the glue joint, and the accelerator left a small "water ring" where it evaporated. In future, I might try placing the accelerator in the mounting holes with a small wire, then dipping the hand rail ends in CA, and then inserting the hand rails. It's a continual learning process...

[@pdrrengineer1404]

Thanks for sharing your experience with this project. I have a handful of the NCE Light-It decoders myself with similar aspirations to add marker lights.

[@rwissbaum9849]

If you build your own electrical pickup trucks, use the THINNEST metal springs possible. My springs were too thick or too wide, or both, leading to excessive friction. As a result, my caboose won't roll freely down a 0.5% incline, which is my usual test for rolling stock.

[@pdrrengineer1404]

@@rwissbaum9849 I have some of the brass HO axle wipers sold by Streamlined Backshop ( they are no longer in stock), but I'm now looking at the ESU #50707 LED Lighting Current Collector.

[@michaelsmodelrailroading7665]

Adding prototypical end-of-train lights to a caboose adds some interest and drama to operations. Your step by step video makes such a project a bit simpler. Thanks for producing this video and sharing it. P.S. It appears that, in addition to the lighting, you have enhanced the caboose with some brass wire railings, etc. That would also be an interesting video.

[@rwissbaum9849]

Thanks for the kind words. Sadly, as I was working on this caboose, I did not record - even in still photographs - my progress. Someday I plan to produce a video showing those techniques, perhaps on a freight car. The process isn't complicated: use a small chisel (www.micromark.com/4mm-Plastic-Modelers-Chisel) to remove the cast-on hand grabs; drill holes marking the ends of the hand grabs, replace any rivets which have been removed in the process using Archer rivet decals (www.hobbylinc.com/microscale-railroad-various-rivets,-various-spacings-ho-scale-model-railroad-decal-871498); insert the new grabs (www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/grabirons/Default.aspx), then prime and paint. After painting the entire caboose flat black, I painted just the hand grabs in yellow in accordance with DRGW practice.

[@w.rustylane5650]

Guess this is for DCC and not for DC. Cheers from eastern TN

[@rwissbaum9849]

Good guess. If you're working in the DC world, the only solution I can come up with is a battery holder and manual switch : Below about 2 volts, the LED won't light at all in DC. Also, to use DC track power, you'd have to connect two independent LEDs (at each end of the caboose) - one to take positive power from the right rail and one to take positive power from the left rail. That way, one of the LEDs would always light (that is, when track voltage got above about 2 volts.) DCC makes so much sense for so many reasons that I tend to forget there's still a lot of DC folks still out there. Sorry about that.

[@Greatdome99]

Kadee trucks have metal wheels (sintered aluminum). The are not all-plastic.

[@rwissbaum9849]

I stand corrected - Kadee trucks are indeed equipped with metal wheelsets. Good catch! (Nice to know someone is paying attention.) It is true, however, that I had replaced the Kadee wheels with Intermountain wheels - not exactly sure why. 3 Nov 2023 UPDATE: I must correct my response. SOME Kadee trucks are equipped with sintered metal wheels on plastic axles. The trucks I used - #580 - have plastic wheels and plastic axles. As far as I can tell, the only Kadee trucks with all metal wheelsets (i.e. wheels and axles) are the trucks equipped for electrical pickup. 15 Jan 2024: FINAL UPDATE: After a LOT of research, I have concluded that, with the exception of the wheelsets used by Kadee's electrical pickup trucks, ALL of Kadee's wheelsets (including #580, which I incorrectly declared to use plastic wheels) consist of sintered metal wheels on plastic axles. A skilled modeler *can* use these wheelsets for electrical pickup by positioning the contacts against the back sides of the wheels, or against the tops of the wheels. This is beyond my skill, so I use pickups which rub on the axles, as shown in my video. I apologize for all the confusion, and I apologize to Kadee for not doing my homework more thoroughly.

[@johnbutler8388]

Harrison ice video tortoise I like that

[@rwissbaum9849]

??? Do you have the world's most aggressive auto correct?

[@13thBear]

Man, I don’t wanna degree in electrical engineering to run my trains. That’s no fun. And I don’t need an expensive, noisy dcc arrangement, either. I much prefer quiet trains to noisy, huffing, chuffing trains. There’s already too much noise in the world. But, you do what gives you fun.

[@STho205]

There are magnet wand controlled lights for DC layouts. Large watch battery and some leds. Place them in or on your caboose and passenger cars. Wave the wand to turn them on. Wave it again to turn them off. Typically the battery is worth hundred or more hours of lighting. Alternatively you can just pick up power from the track and use 12v grain of wheat bulbs. That is if you want lighting at all.

[@STho205]

I find lighting adds a lot to the enjoyment. Instead of interiors, I have photographed real interiors and people... and placed slides into the windows. Did the same with buildings.

[@russellloomis4376]

I would love to see chase your trains around your layout.

[@rwissbaum9849]

Funny you should mention that... I just bought an HD video camera which is small enough to fit inside the clearance limits of the NMRA standards gauge. If I can get this working as I hope, I plan to release a short video (my layout is quite small) shot from the front of a train. Stay tuned...