Yesterday I tried to figure out a simple way to light the cars from track power for the tree train. I tried battery power, but those AA batteries in the cars became just too heavy for the loco to pull up that steep 4% grade I have. (Maybe I'll have to try that Bullfrog Snot too.) So I found some Tomar track sliders that were in my parts bin. I always have a supply of 14V grain of wheat bulbs on hand for building lighting, so all I needed was wire. Done!
The process was simple actually. I drilled and tapped a 00-90 sized hole in the Tomar brass slider and the truck cross member, then screwed the slider to the truck, soldered a small wire to the slider and threaded it up through the hole I had drilled in the car floor. Inside I just twisted and taped the connection from one side of the lamp to the wire lead. (This way I can replace the lamp easily if it burns out.) I repeated the process for the second truck, keeping the slider on the opposite side to slide on both rails. I was pleased when it worked so well and will do the rest of the cars today. This method adds very little weight to the cars and should work well.
I have decided to just tackle one project at a time. My usual problem is that I have four or five projects going at the same time. I did this to prevent boredom with just one thing, but now that I'm a little older (hee, hee 😄 ) I find it better to do one thing at a time. I was feeling overwhelmed with so much to do. Now I'm just picking at it one step at a time. Maybe this will work for a while.
That's enough soul searching for one day. :)
B-)
