Three wall switches were installed next to the doorway when the train room was originally constructed. The intent was to use one for conventional room lighting, one for layout lighting, and the third for all of the railroad electronics. The idea being I could turn off all three switches when leaving the room and be [...]

I am so glad a fellow posted a comment on MRH about Party Lights. What a wonderfully easy way to add a whole bunch of lamp sockets in a hurry. The upper valance has 96 lamp sockets neatly installed and ready for CFL bulbs. It was a piece of cake! The sockets are on 24″ [...]

I am in the midst of installing the party light strings when I could stand it no longer. I had to do a mockup to see if the lighting would be to my liking. Now, stop laughing at the crudeness. This is just a quickly thrown together test. I don’t have my reflectors made yet [...]

The grid to hold the ceiling lighting panels is installed. Laying out the locations of the cross tees was far more difficult and time consuming than actually installing the cross tees.       Armed with a framing square, tape measure, mason’s string, and a pencil I measured and marked the locations on the wall [...]

The holiday break is over and I am quite pleased with the work accomplished on the valance. The blue paint is on and it came out looking real nice. The room looks rather monochromatic with the walls, backdrops, and valance all the same color blue. The layout itself will add the necessary color to bring [...]

Work on the upper lighting valance continues with the installation of the drop ceiling grid. This is no ordinary drop ceiling installation. For starters there is no conventional rectangular grid. Instead, the grid work follows the wavy contour of the valance panel and the backdrops. The result is a challenging installation. Placement of the wall [...]

All of the upper valance panels are in place. The piece near the workbench that makes a curve under the HVAC ducting was a bit of a challenge to install. The straightening boards had to be attached before installation due to a joint midway across that has no attachment point to the ceiling. With my [...]

It’s all in the presentation they say. I agree. What more is a model railroad than a presentation of an animated miniature world? I like the shadowbox effect when used on a model railroad. It really draws your eye to the scene. The shadowbox idea makes hiding the layout lighting much easier too. In my [...]