Got some lighting kits

Hi Super,

The directional lighting and illuminated destination boards are standard on the models even without the lighting units fitted.  It seems that virtually all the Kato trains come with that sort of thing as standard depending upon what the prototypical original it is modelling on has in real life.

The lighting kits only add lighting to the car interiors, these are always on, which is pretty standard for most modern cars day or night in the UK so probably the same in Japan.  However if I were to convert the trains to DCC at some point it is possible to fit special decoders to each car so you can turn the interior lighting on and off.

Kato DCC is somewhat different to most train systems, instead of utilising a multi pin socket instead they have a simple 'drop in' system.  You get one type of decoder that controls the train motion/speed etc...  another type for head/tail lights and a final type for the internal lighting.  These are generally cheaper than the conventional types, but the downside is you need multiples of them if you want to have full functionality. 

Taking a standard train for example if you wanted all the functionality you need;

1. Motion control chip (to go in the power car)
2. Tail or head light chip for each tail/head car.
3. Interior lighting chip for each car with internal lighting.

So for example on a 5 car consist you basically need 8 chips, which of course means it can get a bit pricey, but it all depends what you want to control.  If you're not bothered about having constant internal lighting then you only need 3 chips, motion plus head/tail lighting.

I forgot to add, the reason you need chips to control the head/tail lighting if you go DCC is quite simple. 

Normal analog control is DC current, so you have a switch that decides which rail is + or - polarity, this in turn determines if the car lights the forward or reverse lights. 

Digital control (DCC) on the other hand uses AC current, so the head/tail directional lighting units fitted without a chip will always both be on (because the +/- is constantly switching under AC current).  Adding a DCC chip it can control the polarity of the voltage going to the directional lights so you get your forward/backward lighting back again

[Super]

They look great and I anxious to see them on a layout when you get around to that