Here is a suggestion based on a gift I received at Christmas. Relatively cheap lights can be had from www.leevalley.com . They are available in a variety of formats, including Christmas colours, as well as the white lights.
Looks like ones I got at menards after Christmas. They should run on 3 V AC or DC. Light bulbs don't care. You might even want to lower the voltage for dimmer lighting. I don't recall the price, except they were cheap
Those are a little more than I paid, but designed for structures. Mine are made for stringing up as Christmas lights, so I think these would be better. I thought I might just use the bulbs from mine, or mount under the layout and use fiber optics.
I have a very similar unit I bought at the $1 store. I got it last year and haven't done anything with it yet. I thought about picking up a few more this year, but forgot to run back by before Christmas was done with.
The day before Sylvester I was lucky to get a set of Christmas light-chains, complete with a small AC transformer unit (24 V / 20 Watts).
There are 80 bulbs in the two chains, very neatly packed, plus 8 replacement bulbs, each rated at 2.5 V and 100 mA. This is ideal for lighting structures - I think I'll have bulbs enough for more than one layout.
And the AC adapter will be installed as the power source for my capacitor discharge unit for the staging yard turnouts.
Oh - and the price? 20 Swiss Francs, that's about $15. If I don't count the AC adapter at all, one bulb costs me about 17 cents! (My LHS sells the same bulbs for more than $1.50 apiece! ) Now that's a bargain! :thumb:
Perhaps you are still able to get some light chains in a store... Good luck!
Andrew, thanks for the great tip! Those lights are just what I've been looking for and the fact that each one comes on it's own 36" length of wire is perfect! Time for another trip to Lee Valley - I love that place!!!!