This Little Light Of Mine

S Scale Workshop member Darby Marriott sheds light on a recent project undertaken with a member of the next generation of railway modelling enthusiasts...

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Sometimes it’s the simplest of projects that give you the most pleasure. We attended a recent train show in Ancaster, Ontario where incidentally we met up with fellow Workshop member John Johnston. I’ve been taking my son Kellan to shows since he was a baby, including the first time seeing the S Scale Workshop in 2016. He’s now four, and while his attention span is shorter than mine, he’s now able to appreciate more about the hobby. At the Ancaster show, we stopped by the table of S Scaler Phil Lomax. He graciously offered my son an item of his choice from a “goody bin”. He picked out a little switch (whether he knew it or not) as his desired object.

When we got home, Kellan was curious what the item was and upon finding out, what we could do with it. I promised him we’d come up with a little project in which to incorporate his new switch. The following weekend, he was anxious to start the switch project. Since becoming owner of Jim Martin’s Culverhouse Cannery module, I’ve been adding some minor details here and there. One of the hidden details already present was the loading dock of the cannery, and the crates and figure within the open door. However, it is difficult to see inside, so adding a light might set the scene even better.

A light needs a switch – or perhaps in this case, a switch needs a light. The project was on! My son was excited we had a use for his switch on “Uncle Jim’s” module. We found a grain-o-wheat bulb – one of the those I’ve been removing out of Dead Rail locomotive installs I’ve been doing recently: Incandescent bulbs aren’t a good fit for the modern controller’s low-amp accessory circuits, but perfect for higher power with a nice warm glow.

Since the module still sees regular show duty, the buildings are removable, including the cannery. The light was to be ceiling mounted, as to cast some prototypical shadows, so we’d need to mount it on the base separate from the building shell. A quick trip up from the basement to the kitchen, with Kellan ever in tow, was in order to fetch a bamboo skewer. This would make for a nice, sturdy mounting pole.

A simple project becomes an opportunity to
pass on some useful skills - like measuring

We sized the diameter of the skewer against the proper drill bit and drilled a hole just inside the wall. The skewer fit nice and snug into the hole in the plaster foundation. A measure of the first story roof height gave us the interior clearance we’d be working with. It was also a good opportunity for my son to get more acquainted with detailed measuring. We then cut the skewer down to fit and taped the light to the top of the pole.

We needed another hole to drop the wire down, but didn’t have a drill bit long enough to penetrate the foundation, foam and plywood base. We ended up having to come up from the bottom to meet our hole from the top. Kellan was ever hopeful we’d get it lined up – and on the third try we did! With the remainder of the skewer, we fished the wire leads down through the new hole.

It was relatively straightforward to modify the existing
structure to accommodate the new light

Now the little light needed some power, so we traced the wires of the existing bus power, which also supplies power to the module’s lone turnout. The little switch was soldered in between the light leads and some jumpers off the power bus. Kellan held a light while I laid solder beneath the module. I had picked up a new universal AC adaptor a while back for another project which never came to fruition. Now it had a purpose! We ended up using one of the 6 adaptor plugs to solder in the wires while maintaining the quick-connector plug if we ever wanted to use the adaptor for other purposes.

Now for the moment of truth as we plugged in the adapter for the grand reveal! And… no light. We had inverted the wires and the switch required correct polarity. A quick re-solder with my trusty light holder and we were in business. Let there be light! The universal adaptor also had a variable voltage switch, so we were able to perfectly dial in the brightness we wanted to set the scene.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear...

So thanks to the inspiration and help from my little guy, the little switch now turns on and off the little light in the cannery. We’re looking forward to sharing the enhanced scene at future shows and working on the next little project that comes our way!

- Darby and Kellan