Boy, that post looks awful, there is something wrong with the quoting function. You know you can click the html preview below and clean it up, but what a pain.
RPO car, 63', 11 lamps inside, exactly .5 amps at 18v. (I run 23v so the bulbs will burn out pretty quickly).
So the 80' cars should have about 25% more, so maybe .6 - .7 amps per car.... maybe I measured them at a higher voltage before.
Anyway at over 1/2 amp per car, 6 cars is probably almost 4 amps, more than the loco in most cases.
Tested diode strings today, 3 leds every 2 inches, took two 12v strips and put in series, plenty bright and much less current. Will post pictures soon of comparision.
You want a resistor to limit inrush to cap to store charge. FW bridge to resistor, and cap and then on to lights.
The leds come in an endless strip that runs up to 12v.
http://www.theledlight.com/flexible-ledstrips.html
Regards, Greg