Joe know you have used them for a long time. But the electronic of today and many sound decoders today if their is a short of anytype no voltage should be allowed to pass. 1156 bulbs do not stop all voltage. Everyone I know has removed them. Think if you ask this question on JMRI you get a very detailed answer as to why not.

Everyone I know has removed them.

Not everyone you know. I haven't removed them.

Come to think of it, neither has the Clackamas club (last month's cover story club layout).

I found that not all 1156 lamps are the same.  I bought some no-name ones that either glowed as low as 1.2 amps, or didn't glow until about 2.5 amps.  If you have no-names, replace them with Sylvania, Phillips, GE.

I'm running NCE w/JMRI, and the 1156 lamps work great.

Is this blue silicone the same thing as what the Brits call Blu-Tac? I can't find Blu-Tac anywhere in the USA.

These are  Blu-Tack or the functional equivalent:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202806140?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword...

http://www.amazon.com/Blu-Tack-Reusable-Adhesive/dp/B001FGLX72

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110213115214AACf0yv

This is not the same thing as Permatex Blue at all.  Blu-Tack is a reusable adhesive clay.

If this is the number 3 issue among modelers and seems to be one of the toughest nuts to crack, why don't car manufacturers produce their cars with no numbers, or numbers that can be removed without damaging the paint below???  If they can produce locomotives "Painted & Unlettered" I see no real difference in producing a car/locomotive that is painted and lettered and without a road number.  Another thought is to produce the cars without numbers and provide a small decal set with different number combinations that the modeler could put on???

A little extra cost for this variance is expect and would be gladly paid by those going through this re-numbering process.  I'd also guess if the modeler is re-numbering these cars, they have the needed skills to actually do the re-numbering . . . either with decals or dry transfers.

Now, if someone who has industry contacts could actually speak up for us, wouldn't that be great!

George

Accurail offers renumbering decal sets for its car kits, as well as painted cars with dimensional data only. They are listed on the www.accurail.com  website and there is a coupon in the kit box. A couple other mfr's have also done this from time to time.  But it certainly hasn't caught on.

Number 3 on the list is an unsubstantiated estimate. But it does come up very often.

RTV also comes in black and red besides the blue color and either color will work. Black is especially usefull if you have the potential of seeing inside the model since it will blend in better inside over the blue color. Its also far more common to the black RTV. It doesnt need to be brand specific either.

Due to the fact that I had these on hand, I actually have been using 1044 bulbs instead!  They are rated at 1.44 amps instead of 2.1 amps more common with the 1156 bulb.  They are a 2 contact bulb more common in the marine industry as the bayonet base it's self is not electrically grounded. Being of a lower amperage does limit how many locomotives you can have in one district, but in my case as I model a shortline RR, very few trains ever see more than 2 locomotives consisted.  I haven't had any issues even with sound decoders so the bulbs work well for me.