Lighting Effects

I've been working on the lighting effects possible with the Woodland Scenics Just Plug system, combined with the NCE Illuminator stationary lighting decoders, which are Just Plug compatible. The advantage is that no separate DC lighting circuit is needed on a DCC T-Trak layout to use the Just Plug system. On smaller T-Trak layouts, the DCC power bus can be routed through the track via the Kato Unijoiners, as long as there's a terminal strip on each T-Trak module that will have lighting. Then an NCE Illuminator (or more than one) can be connected to the terminal strip and mounted below the surface of the module to power the stick-on LEDs in buildings, as well as other lighting effects.

Here's a night view of two modules connected together with Just Plug LEDs in the buildings, as well as Kato N rail equipment equipped with DCC decoders in the locos and lighting kits in the coaches:

I get the impression from YouTube videos that modelers are finding advantages to the Just Plug system, with or without NCE Illuminators. Ordinary 12 volt incandescent bulbs have been available for model lighting for many decades, but the problems included short life of the bulbs, the heat of the bulbs, messy and non-standard wiring arrangements, the need to solder wiring together, often the need to go under the layout to make connections, and so forth. The combination of stick-on LEDs in a variety of sizes and colors, the hub-and-plug architecture, and the standardized components that can potentially be mounted in more accessible positions, are all big advantages.

I used orange LEDs to light the interior of my tunnel, which was inspired by the West 45th St tunnel on Amtrak's Manhattan Empire Connection:

Here's my model:

DCC increases the potential for lighting effects in any scale. In HO, some manufacturers offer a lot of flexibility in what lights can be lit on a locomotive. Kato and Walthers, at least, have HO lighting kits for passenger cars. However, so far, nobody has offered the lights that appear near the doors on modern passenger equipment. This would be a big plus!