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If you have the time and patience,
then you might want to make your own street lights. I made
four different types of street lights and most of the material was
from old refrigerators. The cooling tubes on the back of the
fridge is what you are looking for. Once the tubes are removed
and allow to air out for a while outdoors, the odor of Freon and
the oil will dissipate. The tubing on the fridge's are not
all the same size so do check before using. The size of tubing
I used was 3mm, 5mm and 7mm outside diameter. I was able to
get 12V light bulbs small enough for lamp posts at a surplus store
for 50¢ each. Clear plastic tubing just large enough for the
bulb to fit inside makes for a good glass housing. The cap
for the lamps are made from left over flashing used to finish sidings
on houses.

The above picture shows some of the parts used to make the lamps.
All connections are soldered together with regular
soldering techniques. On one end of the 3mm tubing the inside
of the tube has to be drilled out to accept the 28 gauge coated
wire (wire used to make relay coils). Insert a length of
28 gauge wire which is about twice the length of the lamp post.
On the bottom end of the lamp post solder a length of stranded
wire to the 28 gauge wire and cover with heat shrink tubing.
Pull the wire into the lamp post so that the shrink tubing is near
the top of the lamp post. Cut the excess 28 gauge wire and
solder to one side of the light bulb, give a coat or two of liquid
plastic to insulate before it is drawn inside of the 3mm tubing.
The other end of the light bulb is soldered to the underside of
the 3mm tubing. At the bottom of the street light a length
of stranded wire is soldered to the 5mm tubing to complete the circuit.
Give the tubing a coat of paint and it is ready for installation
on your layout.



The above pictures are the actual lamps
which I made and will use on the layout.
These lamps are fully functional.
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