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Follow Up: Lionel 52 fire Car Runs In Only One Direction

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  • Member since
    February 2010
  • 70 posts
Follow Up: Lionel 52 fire Car Runs In Only One Direction
Posted by MickeyDemian on Sunday, May 21, 2017 11:40 AM

   Well, after examining the contact plate and the wiring from the windings for a short as CWburfle recommended, I found the unit would run fine (in both directions) when the plastic shell was off, but when I placed the shell back on, the one direction problem reoccured.  What I found was that the base of the metal lamp holder in the foam holder was being pushed down onto one of the soldered contact points on the contact plate.  Once I placed a piece of electrical tape over the base of the lamp holder, I found the problem solved.

  One more question.  I see where others have had problems with the bulb melting the plastic shell.  Is the foam supposed to cover the bulb or just the metal holder in order to prevent the heat?   Is it possible to change to a lower heat LED light bulb in place of the original unit?  I'm just interested in preventing any future melting.

Thanks

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: South Carolina
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Posted by rtraincollector on Sunday, May 21, 2017 12:51 PM

Your recomendation of changing to LED bulb sounds like a solution. There where a couple of units that heat caused problem. Some of the problem was from consent running and the motor getting hot. ( trolley and gang bump and change directions where 2 of these. ) Any of the small engines with a pul-mor type engine. even the small switchers like the Army 41 etc where known for this problem also. 

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  • Member since
    July 2003
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Posted by cwburfle on Monday, May 22, 2017 11:33 AM

The lamp socket is encased by the foam, not the glass bulb.

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