# Instant Lighthouse



## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

If you're into lighthouses, you might be interested: I was in a local Big Lots today, scanning for garden tools (they start loading the shelves with spring merchandise in February). I happened on some decorative garden lighthouses, about two feet tall, with pretend grass and shrubs at the base and a (apparently) rotating beacon at the top. I guess that's required of most lighthouses.

I'm not really a lighthouse fan so I can't comment on how accurate they are, but they might be something for a railroad layout with a nautical theme. I didn't notice the price. 

JackM


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up will have to check them out. Pete


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

I got a solar light house from Amazon recently, they have a load of them

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=solar+lighthouse

I got this one and so far it works great, lights up and rotates for 2-4 hours after sunset depending on sun light, not bad for what is probably a cheap nicad battery..

http://www.amazon.com/Moonrays-9152...d=1455926633&sr=8-1&keywords=solar+lighthouse

and the scale is pretty good as well.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Lighthouses don't have to be on the water. They can be inland where a train might run by. The Assateague, Va light house is probably a half a mile from the beach. The way the beach is eroding, it may be closer in a few years.

Chuck


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

Lighthouses do not have to be right on the water. They do need to be elevated, higher up equals longer distance they can be seen. They are a fixed point to navigate from.

As a matter of interest, the beam is coded for each lighthouse so you can distinguish it from other lights.


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Ironton said:


> As a matter of interest, the beam is coded for each lighthouse so you can distinguish it from other lights.


the foghorns are too. There are pages of sound recordings out there.

A page I know of with clips of 10 different horns, http://www.sanpedro.com/spcom/foghorn.htm
5 is my favorite.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

I think most of the foghorns on that website are the legendary Diaphones.

If you're interested in foghorns, try hornandwhistle.com or search: horn & Whistle magazine. It's a quarterly (because it's a very arcane hobby). Collectors of original steam boat whistles, emergency sirens, and big honkin' horns. Also pipe organs, power stations, etc. Nathans, Leslie (railroad horns), more etc.

I got into it because I picked up some oddball horn at a flea market.....yada yada.....

JackM


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

JackM said:


> I think most of the foghorns on that website are the legendary Diaphones.
> 
> 
> I got into it because I picked up some oddball horn at a flea market.....yada yada.....
> ...


JBL phenolic 375 (2480) Drivers were also used extensively and there are reports of many "shells" at the bottom of the ocean around fog horns.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/specs/pro-comp/2480.htm


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Even though Dad was career Navy, I actually don't know that much about lighthouses and foghorns - trains tended not to need them.
Although ...
March issue Trains magazine by Kalmbach has article with a fellow recounting a close call on a busy route during heavy fog. Article is subtitled something along the lines of "When simply following the rules is not enough to ensure safety". 
Not sure if my copy is here or got left at model train club yesterday, so I can't offer any more than what my poor neglected memory can dredge up.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

My experience is that if your are on a ship, they all sound the same. In 1950 my family crused from Brooklyn, NY to Bremerhaven, Germany, on a USN transport ship the USN Patch, I well rember the horn as we crossed the North Atlantic. 

I also remember a different horn/alarm as the ship was leaving the North Sea to enter the channel into Bremerhaven. Apparently, we had strayed out of the safe channel, into water that had not been completely cleared of, something that started with "M" and ended with "es".

We had the same fog horns on the return trip a year later, but no alarms.

Fog horns are part of my memory bank.

Chuck


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