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Lights, Sound, and Animation

Recreating the real world in miniature is the ultimate aim of the true model railroader. This is never achievable, we can only mimic reality. We can add features, lights, sounds, and animation, that enhance the feeling of reality.

A perfect example of these three would be an operating sawmill. With some ingenuity the log carriage can be made to run back and forth, accompanied by the sound of the saw. Lights inside the mill can highlight the actions taking place within the mill. The ‘Jack Ladder’, a continuous chain, could lift logs out of the millpond and take them into the mill where they drop into a hidden chute that returns them to the bottom of the jack ladder.

The sound of nighttime insects in a country seen can be coordinated with the dimming of lights. Lights in different rooms of a building, or different buildings in a town, can be wired to come on at appropriate times:

• A blacksmith could raise and lower his hammer, accompanied by the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil. The sparks created, and the glow of the forge, could even be added.
  
  
• A man standing outside a general store could be smoking a pipe, the intermittent glow of the tobacco showing in the twilight. This is easy to do with fibre optics and a blinking diode.
  
  
• Crossing lights or gates that drop down when a train approaches, chase lights on a theatre marquee, flashing lights on a police car or ambulance, are all possible and add to the overall effect of the seen.

All these things are possible. Many electronic circuits are available to help with the triggering of these features, and many different sound systems are out there.

The Credit Valley Railway Co. Ltd has many of these items in store as well as books on lighting and animation. If we don’t have what you want we can help you find it.

NOTE: Any additional lights or motors used in the creation of the feeling of reality should be wired to a separate power circuit than the trains. Too much power taken away from the trains power source can cause the train to slow down or jerk when a feature starts up.