Lights in the dark night – Cameo illuminates 5 heritage railway lines across England

This winter, Cameo fixtures have been selected by Bristol based hire & events company, SLX, to illuminate some of the most historic railway lines in the England as part of ‘The Magical Christmas Light Trains’ project – the brainchild of AJP Creative.

Attracting crowds on otherwise dark and dreary nights, steam trains are illuminated along with the landscape surrounding the tracks, creating magical and festive scenes for passengers to enjoy. The solution: GPS-controlled LED lighting on both sides of the carriages, supported by nearly 250 Cameo FLAT PRO FLOOD 600 IP65 outdoor floods..

Permanent vibrations as well as the usual wet and cold British weather means the FLAT PRO FLOOD 600 IP65 must withstand a lot on their daily routes. The specifications of this project also involved numerous other challenges: “There is very little space on the bottom of the trains, which excluded many models from the start,” explains Andrew Gardiner, Project Manager of SLX who were responsible for all technical elements on the project. “In addition, despite their compact size, the fixtures had to provide wider coverage than the usual 25° of a conventional LED PAR.” This was crucial in order to achieve optimal illumination of the passing landscape for the passengers in the train.

In total, SLX deployed almost 250 Cameo FLAT PRO FLOOD 600 IP65. With its wide beam angle of 40° and colour mixing system, the FLOOD 600 proved to be the ideal solution for SLX, not least thanks to its comparatively low power consumption: “It was vitally important to make sure the fixtures were as energy efficient as possible while still delivering enough punch, given the challenges involved in distributing power along up to 150m of moving train”.

SLX further developed a dedicated GPS trigger system that coordinated both the light and audio cues in order to precisely match the lighting system on the underside of the trains and the LED rope lights decorating the trains to the individual routes.

Whether in Sheringham near the North Sea coast, in the West Midlands or up on the North Yorkshire Moors – ‘The Magical Christmas Light Trains’ will be rolling through the English countryside until early January. Be it wind or weather, snow or storm – Andrew Gardiner and SLX can rely on the Cameo FLAT PRO FLOOD 600 IP65: “The lights are certainly being tested to their IP rating and so far there hasn’t been a single failure on any of the routes.”