light in 1981 lionel baggage car

[wfa]

Can someone help me? I need to get to the bulb in a 1981 rea car. I see no screws to hold it to gether or tabs to unlock. help!

[wfa]

Sorry I did not Give enough informationthis is a lionel tca convention car number 6-7212. There is no screws or tabs to help get this car apart. I can see the bulb socket through a small hole in bottom of car but it is too small to get the bulb and socket through.

[ADCX Rob]

The windows are the same piece as the roof and it is hard to get them removed the first time you do it and until you practice a bit.

The secret to getting these apart is to squeeze the windows in from the bottom or sides instead of trying to reach over the top... hold the car in front of you with the side windows facing to your left & right between your hands.

Press in on the "notched" rear windows with both index fingers using a pushing up motion at the same time to "unlock" the raised tabs from the windows. Switch to the front windows and do the same. Repeat on back windows again... usually by this time you have opened up the roof enough to get a grip on the roof panel and raise it straight up & out of the car.  Here is a similar Polar Express car:

Don't mar the finish by using wedges or screwdrivers to pry the roof up - it just isn't necessary.

Rob 

[wfa]

thanks so much for your help!

[David Barker]

That seems similar to the early 1970's MPC Milwaukee Road passenger cars.  Is that correct?  As I have a set of them and am curious if that is the method to disassemble those as well.

[krapug1]

No, the Milwaukee Road cars are a completely different animal when it comes to taking them apart,

this can also apply to the other early releases of these cars (B & O and the Pennsy).

As Lionel/MPC went along it improved the cars including the process of taking them apart.

There are a few 9500 diagrams in the file section of my MPC Yahoo group.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MFoGUZwq5MnKb0uVY5gluzg2bslYsAWMQb0nHzhhPNm96wAbGT3m_sclQgniz6LOAcRDKmY37FXAsGiAOJEqOQ/9500%20ken.jpg

Ken

 

[David Barker]

Thanks KRAPUG1  I will check those out!

[ADCX Rob]

krapug1

No, the Milwaukee Road cars are a completely different animal when it comes to taking them apart,

this can also apply to the other early releases of these cars (B & O and the Pennsy).

Actually, it's exactly like the Milwaukee Road, B&O and the Pennsylvania(and many more subsequent - up to current production - Polar Express, etc.) cars.  The only exception is that the earliest Milwaukee cars had the 6 tabs(3 on each side) below the windows extend through the floor and snapping in.  These tabs had to be cut off with a hobby knife from the bottom the first time the roofs were removed for bulb replacement.

There is a line of cars that was made with similar tooling that uses screws for assembly, but this is clearly obvious upon inspection and they aren't nearly as common.

[Kooljock1]

And the straight baggage cars are a little different from the passenger, combine, and dining cars in that they don't have the windows to push on!

Jon