Lighted Steam Loco Diorama

Steam locomotives are nostalgic. For many of us, we may never have seen a steam locomotive in service. For the older folks you may remember seeing them in service as a child.

I had this old HO steam locomotive from a long-since dismantled project that I built for my late dad. It was a real running waterfall with a wooden trestle. Unfortunately I can’t find a photo of it but if I do I’ll include it here.

So onto the new project. I had a display case from a set of Japanese dolls that was no longer needed, so I grabbed it before it ended up in the recycling bin.

It was stepped so I thought I’d stage the steam loco on top of the raised section as if it was running on top of a wall.

I added a length of HO scale track (from the original trestle/waterfall project) and ballasted it.

Then I added a wall made from styrofoam painted with cheap acrylic paints.

The final scenery task was adding some ground foam on the lower step. I might add some bushes and other vegetation later including perhaps some wet patches.

Check out the full video here:

One additional feature I wanted to have was lights in the loco. Obviously the headlight but then also cab lighting.

With two LEDS, some wire, a small battery box that I cut down to fit underneath the raised section of the display stand and a slide switch, I soldered together a circuit.

Check out the full install video here: