Track lighting question

Can you go into a little more detail on what you plan to light?  Do you want room lights or train layout lights?

Train layout lights. 

You may want to look at lights for doll houses.  AC Moore stores have a selection of Doll House supplies.

Direct-Lighting has a batch.

I searched for "plug in track lighting".

As a retired electrician I have lots of experience with ceiling track light, but I always hard wire mine.  The above kits should work nicely for you.

Are you sure you want to go with low voltage for layout lighting? That really puts a limit on what type of bulb and wattage you can use. You want the layout to be very brightly lit, and even install a dimmer to lower the lighting for nights scenes.

Make sure you do your homework on this one, because you dont want to get it all done and then say.... "well I wish I would of gone a different direction." Oh yeah, I'm speaking from experience   

Thank you, Susan.  That's a big help.  I don't need a lot of extra light, but I need some. 

We had a few track type "low voltage" lights that we used to accent product on shelves at our store. These were the type where the light head itself had the low voltage transformer as part of the light fixture. One thing I didn't like was that they generated a lot of heat. So much so that you could easily burn you finger if you touched it without letting it cool.

I was going to use them for accent lighting on my layout mostly because they seemed a little more compact than the regular type and would require less ceiling height. I was told you can get a special dimmer for them, which if I remember right is fairly expensive in itself. I ended up using the standard incandescent type, because I was concerned about the heat build up that close to my ceiling. To help with the space issue, I kept the lighting tracks pretty much in line with the ege of the benchwork, so nobody feels they have to duck under the light fixture, even though you would have to be 6'6" tall before you would actually bump into them.

Here's a pic early on during my construction of what I went with.

REV

This is good information.  Maybe low-voltage isn't the way to go.  Where did you get those fixtures, rev?

I HAVE USED THE LOW VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS FOR YARD LIGHTING ON SEVERAL LAYOUTS. THEY WORK GREAT. 12 VOLTS DC IS THE OUTPUT FOR THE LAYOUT. LIGHT BULS DO NOT READ A/C--OR D/C. MTH ACCESSORIESS, LIGHTS, SIGNALS, ALL WORK GREAT ON THESE POWER SUPPLIES. HAVE NOT USED LIONELS SIGNALS OR ACCESSORIES, BUT AS LONG AS THEY ARE D/C SHOULD WORK FINE. THERE WERE 2 OUTPUTS AVALIABLE WHEN WE BOUGHT THE POWER SUPPLIES. WE USED THE 300 WATT. IF YOU NEED MORE INFO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL. THANKS MARSHALL 614-769-2005

My foggy head seems to indicate that a main advantage to low voltage is (spot) lighting.  The low voltage allows for a smaller filament, the focal point of the lamp with a parabolic reflector, i.e a narrow beam of light.   Most line voltage track systems will accept low voltage fixtures designed for line voltage supply.  They are usually slightly larger, and more expensive, fixtures including a transformer.   There are also some very nice R16, or R20 (120V) lamps that do a decent job of spot lighting, but not what a low voltage spots can do. IMO, Model trains are tough lighting.   There is a lot of black that doesn't reflect light well.
I use a perimeter track loop and use two different heads, a 60 watt R16 spot, the smaller fixture, and a 50 watt R20 flood, the larger fixtures with shade hood.   Flood for general illumination, and the spots to highlight buildings, scenery, pictures on the wall, train shelf items,  or engines.

I don't have many pictures of the lighting system, but it does a good enough job that most all my pictures are taken without flash.  There are also recessed 2'X4' lay-in flourescent fixtures for general (work) illumination. I usually turn the flourescents off when taking pictures for better color.    There is no low voltage lighting.   There are enough lights that with the A/C off the room temperature increases quickly.  Mike
Additional information
Some additional pictures (11/09/12) of the line voltage track lighting system.
Note the right angle corner connector and two different light fixtures.  The fixtures can be positioned anywhere on the track. There are also power feed ends and splices to extend the track more than 8 feet.


I also use (4" down lighting) with 50 R20 flood lamps.

Shelf lighting


Some of the recessed down lighting is adjustable.  Note the three fixtures to the left.


Each fixture can be positioned where you want it.


Single circuit track controlled by one switch (which could be a dimming switch).  There is available multi-circuit, (2), lighting track that would allow for a more controlled lighting display.  Usually the lights are position on the wall shelves. I re-positioned the lights to take a photo of my Black SW9's a few days ago.   Black models take a lot of light.



The two different 120 volt track fixtures that I used.   Small lamp is a 60 watt R16 spot lamp. Larger fixtures have a 50 watt R20 flood lamp.  A low voltage fixture is available for this track if that is your choice. Low voltage fixtures are more expensive.


Number of fixtures and positioning determine the display quality.  Track circuit design is based on the total wattage of the lamps on the circuit.  A 20 amp residential circuit rated at 80% could handle 1920 watts.  Approximately (38) 50 watt lamps or (25) 75 watt lamps. Nothing else on the circuit.  These track components are robust/well designed for large wattage circuits.




Track is secured to the ceiling grid with 8-32 machine screws, nut, and washer. The track in the one room with relief tile is spaced down off the grid with 5/16" hex nuts.   Additional track heads can be added as the display evolves.   There are (2) track lighting circuits one for each room.   Train operation/control circuits are seperate.  Flourescent lighting in the two rooms is another circuit.

Actually, I originally saw the fixtures in a builders's supply store, where they were using them to accent brick and stone sample panels. I eventually found them in a "Lighting" store, you know one of those places that deals specifically in all kinds of lighting fixtures, from interior table lamps to outside driveway pole fixtures.

They had a major display of track lights. In most cases, the track itself is pretty standard, with many different styles of track heads. Here's a better pic of the track fixture itself. The head itself is pretty much all open, so heat dissapates nicely. Actually what you see inside the ring on the lower part of the lamp, is the bulb itself. I think they look kinda' neat, sort of an "Art Gallery/Commercial Look" style.

Also a shot of the trainroom as lit by the track lights only. I have 8 track heads, of which 5 are on one dimmer, and 3 on another. They are all on at max brightness in the pics. The last pic has all 8 fixtures in it. They throw a lot "softer" light than the recessed flourescent fixtures.

REV