PREPARING THE LAMP

Out of the polybag, each 3032 marker lamp has three lenses and a bulb/socket assembly with long wire leads. To add a fourth lens to the lamp, first remove its brass handle (but save it for future use as a bucket handle). Remove both clear lenses by pushing with offset tweezers from the inside of the lamp housing. Save the lenses. Use a razor saw carefully to cut off the car hanger from the fourth lamp face. Cut it flush with the side of the lamp housing.

Use a one-quarter inch diameter bit to drill out the new fourth face. Go through laterally from the opposite side of the housing. Clean up the drilled hole with a file and sandpaper and, if necessary, enlarge the opening slightly to accept the lens. If you use the lamp's existing lenses, you will be short two lenses, with only two red lenses and four clear ones. Since each lamp needs two red lenses (on opposite sides) and two other lenses (either green or clear), you must now make a choice: Use the existing lenses and buy two additional jewels or discard the existing lenses and buy eight jewels.

I use the existing lenses and also buy jewels but never mix types on any pair of lamps. Each has different light transmitting characteristics and I enjoy both on my layout. You may find jewels in the bead and rhinestone section of most craft stores. Buy the one-quarter inch size and, to allow light to shine through, lightly sand the back of each jewel to remove its reflective coating.

To color LGB's clear lenses, roughen the face with a medium coarse sandpaper. Then tint it with a green or amber felt-tip marker. Test the depth of color by inserting a lit bulb into the lamp housing.

LGB lenses snap into place but you must glue jewels from the inside of the housing. I use 10-25 second Maxi-Cure CA but any similar adhesive will work fine. Clean off any excess glue and, if necessary, touch up the joint with flat black acrylic paint.

Note: You may eliminate the preceding steps if you substitute Ozark Miniatures number OM-36 switch lanterns with reflectors. They only require painting.

Considerations: The LGB unit comes with socket housings and bulbs; Ozark lanterns do not. LGB's lanterns are much more robust and much larger. If you intend to install low level stands, the Ozark lantern bases are too small to sit freely on top of the LGB 12040 lamp housing.

LOW LEVEL SWITCHSTANDS

For the low level switchstands typical of yards and close clearance industrial trackage, LGB's 12040 lamp comes almost ready to use. You must modify only the lamp housing. It is actually three separate pieces: The base (attaching to the turnout), a sliding bottom cover, and a removable lid. The lamp assembly includes four pieces: The cover, a removable rectangular lens, a round base plate/lens holder, and a removable core with a protruding flange to engage the turnout throwbar. We care only about the last piece.

Remove the lamp cover and rectangular lens. Use a small screwdriver to locate the 1/16-inch protruding knob of the core piece and, from the top of the housing, exert moderate force to dislodge the core from its seat. Be careful to avoid damaging the flange.

File or sand off the knob. Lightly sand the top face so its flat surface will bond with the base of the 3032 lamp. Insert the core, flange down, into the cover plate of the 12040 and replace the cover plate on the base. Test fit the lamp to ensure its base clears the protruding light socket and bulb and rests on the freely rotating throwbar core unit. If it binds, enlarge the marker lamp's base with a round file or an X-acto knife until it swivels freely.

Re-attach the part and engage the throwbar with the flange. Test the throwbar for ease of operation. Then sparingly apply cement to the base of the marker lamp and, keeping glue off the cover plate, cement the lamp in place. Its red lenses should point toward an oncoming train when the throwbar is in the "points thrown" position. That completes the modification for a low level stand.

HIGH LEVEL STANDS

Begin by removing the sliding bottom cover of the housing to expose the wires powering the lamp. Cut the wires at their soldered connections. Use a small screwdriver to pry out the socket and its bulb. Save them for future projects. Then, with a razor saw, cut off the socket housing flush with its base, a point about 1/8-inch lower than the top of the screw terminal block.

Remove the top part of the housing; it holds the rectangular lens. Use a razor saw to cut off the housing completely flush with its base. File or sand the top smooth and flat. Use the piece as a pattern for cutting a disc from 1/16-inch thick styrene. Glue the styrene in place on the sanded top.

Use aluminum tubing for the mast of the light. You will need both 1/8-inch and 5/32-inch diameter tubing. It is available from most hobby shops. Buy enough 1/8-inch tubing to make masts between 1 1/2 and 2 inches high (or taller if you like). We will use only half-inch lengths of the 5/32-inch diameter tubing at the base of the mast. Cut the appropriate lengths of tubing, clean up any rough edges, telescope the long piece into the short 5/32-inch diameter piece, and glue in place.

When the cement has dried, thread the leads of LGB's lamp through the top end of the 1/8-inch diameter tube, add a drop of cement to the base of the socket, pull taught from the bottom, and hold the socket in place until the cement sets. Be certain the bulb is perfectly upright.

With a small drill or the point of an X-acto knife, make a small hole in the center of the styrene disc you made earlier. The hole should accept the 5/32-inch diameter tubing at the bottom of the mast. Check for a snug fit and glue the mast into the hole so only 1/8-inch protrudes through the bottom. If necessary, use a level to keep the mast perpendicular to the disc.

Thread the wire leads through the housing cover, under the housing base, and up again through the hole in the base between the terminal block and the wiring slot. Attach the 12040 to an LGB 12010 turnout motor. Replace the cover and fish the wires through until you can engage the rotating base in the throwbar mechanism. The mechanism should move freely and the mast should rotate with it. Replace the sliding bottom cover.

The LGB lamp housing will now fit snugly over the socket and bulb at the top of the mast. Position the lamp so the red lenses face an approaching train as above, in the case of the low level light. Do not glue the lamp in place; someday you may have to replace the bulb.

If you have used the Ozark Miniatures lamp housing, its base is smaller so it will fit snugly only over the bulb.

If you want to add a target to the mast, cut a disc from 1/32-inch thick styrene about the diameter of a penny. Glue it to the upper portion of the mast. Be sure the disc faces an approaching train when the red lens does. Paint the base, plate cover, mast, and bulb socket flat black. Paint both sides of the target red.

Whether you operate in the sunlight or after dark, the switch lanterns should enhance the appearance of your turnouts. At night, their illumination looks even better!