LED to Layout Lighting

Maybe this post should be entitled "Easily-led to Layout Lighting?  Spoiler alert: near ceiling-height view of Kingstons' Hanley Spur HO-scale layout from the other end of the craft room/layout room showing my completed LED lighting set-up (top photo). Second spoiler alert: completed lighting Youtube edition!

With so many options out there for layout rooms, I've recently been reading and ruminating on layout lighting. Perhaps more pertinent in multi-deck layouts, the eclipse-like darkness that can pervade lower levels has been a tough-to-solve problem for years now. Until we've all been led to LED lighting, that is!

My layout will only ever be a single deck. The room has minimal drop-ceiling fluorescent tube lighting. There are two fixtures, offset, and the far corner of the room receives little light from the fixtures.

In a previous layout iteration, I did have two under-layout tracks that emerged in one corner of the layout. The aptly- and dangerously-named Slide Subdivision! Since then, I've keeping it on the level - one level. And using the existing fluorescent tube room-lighting as the sole light source. Then LEDs started twinkling in my eyes!

The virtues of LED lights include reduced heat signature, ease-of-use, they're easily-controllable and nearly invisible! Early versions seem to be of the dot variety, with small dime-size LEDs arranged in a linear fashion on a tape-backed strip. Easy to stick under that upper-level benchwork! More recent developments include a choice of brightness - RGB, cool light, warm light, day light, bud light. OK, I made that last one up. 

Which one is right and best for your layout? Hard to say, and a full explanation about Kelvins, BTF, COB and a bunch of other abbreviations is definitely beyond the scope of this post. All I can say is 'thank you' to some fellow modellers gave me some very useful suggestions:

I may not have a running layout yet, but I definitely have operating overhead LED lights that light the layout. Take the leap. I used one line of daylight and one line of more mellow white. Both are on dimmers so I can adjust the tones. Got this idea from William Brillinger (PDC). - Eric D. Scott

Definitely LED. But not “rope” - “strip” or “tape” is good. I’m using 4000K on dimmers. Spectrala, 24V DC, Natural White 4000K, 9W/m, 972 lumens/m, 480 LEDs/m, CRI 95, continuous, dot-free, self adhesive on aluminum heat sink (not lighting-specific), dimmable, multiple zones, wireless controllers. I’m running essentially 2 strips per level with one a couple of inches past the outside edge of the layout and another a few inches from the backdrop to reduce cast shadows.The cheap stuff may not tell you what Kelvin they are. I’m happy with mine. I didn’t want it too blue just for spending time with it and photos can always be adjusted. I splurged on the good stuff - don’t want to have to do it over again any time soon. Also, there is a huge variety in how many LEDs per foot/meter. I used dotless (continuous) strip. Cheap LEDs give out before they’re supposed to. Also, most people don’t seem to realize or care but heat sinks extend the life. Regardless, even cheap LED strip is better than fluorescent! And if anything I’d go to an even higher Kelvin rating than 4000. Definitely not less. I’m happy with 4000 but can see that 4500 or even 5000 may work. I didn’t want the room to feel too cold in person, even though 5000 may be better for photography. It’s easy to colour-balance photos. - Martin Neale

I installed LED strip lights 4 inch centres strips being 2 feet apart in the layout room and kept the florescent lighting. The LEDs are not as bright so use fluorescent for work and LEDs for scenes especially since I have the colour changing ones. - Allen Hansen

On the last layout, I used LED strips on the underside of the upper deck, did a great job with very little obstruction. In my current location the overhead lighting is not so favorable so will probably do additional LEDs. - Gregory Latiak

One thing to consider apart from light "warmth" in Kelvins (K) is the brightness in lumens (lm) especially with strips. I have a wider layout and I am running three strips in parallel to get a good result. I have also replaced some of the older ones with newer, stronger ones. It makes a huge difference when taking pictures or making videos. - Juraj Meszaros

A light bulb appeared over my head in an illuminating moment. The next stop was Amazon, during Prime days. I settled on this BTF-Lighting set, available in Cool, Natural and Warm. Cool was too blue for my liking, Warm was too yellow, so Natural it was. Two lengths were available, and the 10-metre were less than twice as expensive than the 5-metre. My layout space is 10x11 feet, so I figured that 10 metres/33 feet of strip would do the job. Guesswork, really, but hopefully an informed decision. With that choice, only one plug-in would be required. The set also came with its own remote-control, and who doesn't like yet another remote to have in hand?

Compared to the kooky colour-changing sets, this set is supposed to be more energy-efficient, with a 25,000-hour lifespan. The set's blurb continues, "compared with traditional 5050SMD 3528SMD light strips, FCOB light strips dense light-emitting units create a brighter, softer, and more uniform light, avoiding black in the middle area", which I assume means between the LED dots. The set's desirable properties are 335 LEDs/metre, 4000 Kelvin, 90+ CRI (Colour Rendering Index).

The next day, the Amazon driver stopped at the end of the driveway...to open three van doors and apparently reorganize his deliveries. Amazon anticipation! Finally, he made his way to the front door with my little lighting bundle-of-joy. 

I unboxed, plugged-in and I was very happy with the immediate results. Now I just had to suspend them at what seemed to be an appropriate height between layout and ceiling. All I needed was four hands, or a willing helper. I had neither! (Unsure if I needed another set, I wanted to gauge the brightness before Amazon Prime days ended!) I settled on binder clips with which to tack the strips to the drop-ceiling T-beams to gauge brightness and general placement (three photos - Fluorescent only (above) Fluorescent + LED (below) and LED only (second photo below):

Convinced that one 10-metre set would be enough, I bravely turned off the fluorescent tube room lighting and was pleasantly surprised with the warm glow, no shadows, less light on the upper walls, and more even coverage of the layout. Flexible Chip On Board (FCOB) LED strips are flexible, high-density LED strips that are cuttable, dimmable and linkable. They are known for being brighter, softer, and more uniform than traditional LED strips.

That looked very public-school-science-fair-like! It was a proof-of-concept only, showing that the 10-metre strip would work. I noted the diminishing of lighting strength toward the end of the strip, but I was happy to have one plug-in/control point for the whole string. The next step would be determining placement. Tape to T-beam? Build a valance? Properly and safely suspend the strip another way? I decided to try a thin wooden alternative like dowelling, molding or maybe flooring quarter-round along three or four sides of the layout, using the strip's tape or perhaps zip-ties. Wire, thread, fishing line and other suspension options for the quarter-round lay before me.

I found several pieces of leftover quarter-round in the garage and basement. (This is why you should NEVER throw anything out!) I hung one piece over each front-edge of my layout, suspended by string strung through the T-beam holes, at least temporarily. I used tiny zip-ties to try to hold the LED strip to the quarter-round and settled on an 18-inch height down from the drop ceiling. This was as close as I wanted the lighting suspended, without hitting it with my noggin every time I leaned over to work or switch on the layout (below). 

Once hung, I experimented with exactly where the quarter-round should be suspended. I settled on the nearest edge of the layout to the aisle, except when entering the room, where I hung that piece of quarter-round over the outer edge of the layout (at right, below). I positioned the round side of the quarter-round toward the layout, positioning the strip at the bottom, though I could theoretically place it higher up the curved side. This made it easy to apply the strip backing tape to the quarter-round without meandering up and down.

Fortunately, the lengths of drop-ceiling T-beam lined up very well with the edges of the layout, except for one piece (at left, below). String-suspended still:

The next day, I decided that an ideal suspension method for the quarter-round would be coat-hangers! Not too many places want them second-hand, though KIMCO is always the next option! I found a dozen, and used pliers to clip the long edge of each hanger near the corners. I straightened them out to the required 18-inch length, fashioning a rounded hook at the top and a 90-degree bend at the bottom for the quarter-round to rest on. I drilled holes an inch or two from each end of the quarter-round through which to pass the coat-hanger 'suspension'.

To make them slightly less visible, I decided to paint the suspension and the quarter-round the same colour as my layout room walls. I drilled holes a couple of inches in from the end of each piece of quarter-round to insert the suspension through. 

My wife let me 'borrow' 12 powerful magnet-hooks that she found on Amazon for hanging her craft supplies. She then ordered more! The magnets and hooks are threaded, and when put together are strong and easy to move along the drop-ceiling T-beams. 

I was then able to suspend each piece of quarter-round in succession and remove the strings holding each piece in place. No photos exist of this part of the process - I just didn't have enough hands or take the time to do so - just the results! Where the strip starts (below) the power supply/adapter/LED controller (with dimmer/remote) wires emerge to meet the quarter-round above a white storage cupboard:

Looking the other way towards the storage cupboard (formerly the great white wall) the LED strip lights up my CN Outer Station yard very well:

I decided I needed a longer piece of quarter-round for one side, in order to bridge the long gap visible nearest the entrance to the layout room. Leaving about three inches between each piece of quarter-round for flex/movement, I got the quarter-round cut, painted and hung and when happy with the spacing, removed the backing from the double-sided tape on the back surface of the strip. [Note to self: removing too much backing also removes the double-sided tape!] This piece also holds the connections between the two 5-metre strips. I was concerned about this several-inch gap in lighting forming a dark spot over Cataraqui Street, until I coiled the wires into an S-shape on either side of the connector and zip-tied them in place:

I found the length-estimation to be lucky - just right! The end of the strip hangs over the CN Wellington Street freight shed, where tracks theoretically extend beyond the end of the peninsula to Ontario Street, the CLC plant and shipyards. I zip-tied then end of the strip to the quarter-round here (below - looking towards the craft-room end of our shared space). I was thereby able to get the most out of the 10-metre LED strip!

Overall photo of the finished LED lighting entering the room (below). Yes, the end of the strip that sits over the Wellington Street/Rideau Street peninsula gives off a more dimly-lit glow - there is room on the quarter-round to add another strip at some point in the future. 

The iPhone camera compensates quite a bit for low light, and doesn't depict the loss of strength toward the end of the strip. I may end up adding a second strip to remedy that. For now, I've enjoyed operating with just the LED lighting, no room lighting, and I'm happy with the results. For layout room work or other projects, the existing drop-ceiling fluorescent tube lighting remains an option.

To complete this project, I'm going to look at shading two portions of the LED strip where it faces inward toward the peninsula (above). Though easy on the eyes in the aisle, when working in the deepest aisle beyond the peninsula, two lengths of LED strip are 'in your face' (below - looking towards other end of room with room entry at right):

I'll also work on covering the flex/movement parts of the strip between the quarter-round (final corner below). Light-blue cardstock might work for both of these remaining project pieces!

The cost of this project? The suspension system was no-cost: coat-hangers, quarter-round and blue paint already in-house. The magnet-hooks were about $10 and the LED kit just over $50. That's 60 bucks o' fun! The competition and not so inexpensive - this LED fixture at RONA:

Playing under the lights! CN switches in the Kingston Outer Station yard with section men and Presland Iron & Steel nearby:

Running extra...

Reddit. Read it? This Redditor obviously doesn't know from my Redditor-not-my-real-name-assigned-to-me-by-the-tech that I'm the Trackside Treasure blogger guy. And I have no intention of telling him, because this is too much fun! I'm sure this Redditor would cancel his Trackside Treasure subscription if he could, as in, "I'm cancelling my subscription due to your inaccurate, disconnected-from-reality and speculative blog, and sticking with Reddit where no-one uses their real name and the mission statement is, "to bring community, belonging, and empowerment to everyone in the world." 

That's e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. Thanks for reading this far, loyal Trackside Treasure reader.

We are all looking to reach our station in line. Montreal's Montreal, Vermont & Essex layout has this Windsor Station that's actually located in Montreal, not in Windsor!