Adding Ditch Lights To Atlas SD60Ms
An Article based on this information appears in the January-February 2002 issue of N-Scale magazine
My modeling era is today. I was getting a little frustrated being able to run only Kato's Dash 9s on the point of my trains because they were the only units that had ditch lights, and we all know it's not legal to run a train today without them. And no one has yet seen fit to produce the SD70 or 75i as yet. And when this finally happens, I can only hope they'll come equipped with ditch lights. But for now...
Some time ago I purchased some fiber optics material from my local hobby shop. At the time I was trying to illuminate the headlights on some bashed F40PH Diesels. (I used Life-Like shells and Atlas GP35 chassis to do the bash, and was pleased with the results.) I have three different diameters in my projects bin, and ended up using the middle diameter which is about .030.
I looked closely at the SD60M shell, and it appeared a hole could be drilled below the front platform and in between two steps that would at least look decent. I did this, with a #61 bit thus making the hole slightly oversize for the .030 diameter of the optic plastic.
I snipped off a couple inches of optic and "belled" one end using the heat from a soldering iron. (Warning! It doesn't take much heat. Don't touch the iron with the optic. Prepare to lose a few pieces of optic until you get the hang of it. The same applies to the bending process.)
I inserted the optic into the previously drilled hole and eyeballed where to make the first bend, made that bend, put it in again to eyeball the second bend, and so on until I had the finished light pipe. I found I needed to cut a slot in the deck part of the body to keep the optic away from the chassis. Because I made the slot just slightly oversize, when the optic is placed in position it will stay with no need for adhesive of any kind.
Picture of Finished Shell Picture of "Light Pipes"
It's simply a matter of playing with the optic and the bends until you get to the point where the optic is aimed at the LED and will properly transmit light.
This is a very inexpensive project that has paid big dividends. I am now happily running the SD60s on the point and my empire has a bit more variety and realism.
