Headlight LED color

Does anyone know of an LED that you can get that matches the prototype headlight color pretty well? If so, where do you get them? I looked on Radio Shack's website, but the only ones they had that seemed like they would be even close, were a "white" color, and a "yellow" color. Any help with this would be great! Thanks

The white LED's are superbirght, and tend to emit a slightly blue-ish (funny, she doesn't look blue-ish) color. MR published some circuits on how to tone down the color to get a more yellow cast, but I like my method better: use a yellow marker and color the head of the LED to compensate.

-otto-

(seriously- it works, and you don't lose any brightness)

As Otto said, conventional "white" LEDs don't look much like real headlights because they're a very artificial color with hints of blue.

There are a couple of companies that make LEDs specifically for model railroaders, and most of them have some sort of internal lens to give them the same color as an ordinary incandescent bulb. The actual outside lens is still clear though, so they look correct when the power is off instead of having a yellowish lens. I believe a couple of the brand names are Golden Whites and Sunny Whites, though those might be two different types. There's even one fellow who will machine the LED lenses to any diameter you want, so that they press fit directly into the holes in your shell. If I can find his contact info I'll post it here - his services are well worth it, since he makes it so easy to install the lights.

I can say from personal experience that these golden-white LEDs are definitely the best way to go. They have the right color, yet they're much brighter than bulbs and cast a much more focused beam of light. A friend of mine installed them in an F40PH diesel, also using the bluish "white" LEDs to represent strobe lights, and when we turned the room lights off you could see the headlights reflecting off the rails and lighting up the surrounding scenery and buildings. Also, if we got down and looked directly at the oncoming locomotive, the lights were almost blindingly bright - just as they should be.

Actually, here's a capture from a short video my friend took showing the same LEDs installed in an AMD-103 diesel. You can see how bright they are and how they shine off the nearby hopper car. So like I said, there is a great solution out there and as soon as I find the website I'll post it here.