Williams 60ft Luxury Liner OBS - NIGHTMARE!

[Tower49]

Well I got in a big FIGHT trying to change the light bulbs in my NYC Williams Luxury Liner observation car, and almost lost.

I can't believe the aweful design for getting those lights in and out. I know that the "trap doors" on the undercarriages are suppose to ease access to the bulbs, but they never put enough excess wire to the socket to let them swing out enough to get to the bulb/socket, then the SOBs put NUTS on the other side of the access screws that are IMPOSSIBLE to get at. Theres no way to tighten them up after the body is slid back on.because you can't access them. They neew to be loose so the trucks clear the skirting on the carbody. (ugh!)

I ended up sliding the whole undercarriage out from the body of the car with great difficulty, 

They through bolt the under carriage at the tail end with a tall stud thats slotted and glued to the roof, however the undercarriage is not slotted, so theres no way to slide it out of the body when you get the retaining nut off.

I ended up making a "slot" out of the existing hole in the under carriage to allow me to slide it in and out of the car body around this rear stud. But it ws a female dog.

Has anyone else encountered such a hassle with these Williams Luxury Liner Observation cars? I own several sets of these and would gladly like to hear if anyone has a better way. 

 Thank You in advance fellas!

 

[Dave632]

 I feel your pain.

I do not have any Williams cars but manufacturer stupidity is very common.

I have a set of MTH passenger cars which look great but whoever designed the lighting system

should be shot at dawn. Every light socket cracks and breaks, designed by idiots!!!!

[Firelock76]

Gee, that's odd. I recently purchased a set of  Williams cars, specifically the 60-foot semi-scale Madison passenger cars.  Out of curiosity I wanted to see what I had to do "if and when"  a bulb needed to be changed.  Turned the car over, and there's four screws near the car ends that hold the shell on.  Bulbs are good old bayonet base types.

I looked in the Williams catalog at the "Luxury Line" semi-scale streamline cars and noticed two knurled knobs on the roof where I assume ventilators would go.  Did you try to unscrew those knobs and see if it frees up the roof allowing access to the car interior?

By the way, it would help A LOT if manufacturers would put a set of instructions in the car boxes explaining the procedure for changing bulbs.  Not everyone seems to do this.  If the O-Gauge Overlord is listening in he should pass this on to the manufacturers. 

[Buckeye Riveter]

Dave632

 I feel your pain.

I have Williams, Lionel and MTH passenger cars.  They are all goofy when it comes to changing a light bulb. On one of them you pinch the glass window in a special location and hope the top comes off.  At least new cars have come with light changing instructions.   

[TRAINCAT]

Yep, been there too. It looks like Williams never meant for the body to ever come off once assembled. I needed to remove a truck for repair and it was extremely difficult. I was not able to completely remove the chassis from the body of the car.
Roger

[Texas Pete]

Buckeye Riveter

I have Williams, Lionel and MTH passenger cars.  They are all goofy when it comes to changing a light bulb. On one of them you pinch the glass window in a special location and hope the top comes off.  At least new cars have come with light changing instructions.   

Those are the Lionel "tabbed window" baby Madison cars, such as the ones in the Polar Express set.  Out of frustration I developed a method that helps to eliminate the use of bad language when changing bulbs in that type of car:

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=663

Try it, you'll like it.

Pete

[Buckeye Riveter]

Texas Pete

Buckeye Riveter

I have Williams, Lionel and MTH passenger cars.  They are all goofy when it comes to changing a light bulb. On one of them you pinch the glass window in a special location and hope the top comes off.  At least new cars have come with light changing instructions.   

Those are the Lionel "tabbed window" baby Madison cars, such as the ones in the Polar Express set.  Out of frustration I developed a method that helps to eliminate the use of bad language when changing bulbs in that type of car:

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=663

Try it, you'll like it.

Pete

Pete....I don't need to try it, I LIKE IT!!!!  Thank you for posting.      Happy Days are here again..............  

[Train-O]

Thank you Pete,

You will save many of us from using a HAMMER!!!

Ralph 

[phillyreading]

I have a lot of older Williams passenger cars and only have to take the screws out from underneath the car at both ends and in the center. Did WBB do something sneaky on the new Luxury Liners to frustrate us? I would hope they didn't! If WBB is doing some new stunts I may not buy their product, I will ask how to change light bulbs on any new Williams passenger.

[brianel027]

One more alternative tip concerning the tabs on the window inserts on the Lionel baby Madison cars as well as some newer production SP type 027 cabooses (which have the frame as part of the main body piece) which use the same tab set up on the window inserts.

I take a Dremel with a small diameter fine sanding bit, and reduce the height and slope of the molded-in tab on the window insert. On the Polar Express cars, which have the passenger figures printed on the window insert, you grind down the top part of the tab, changing it from the sharp angle to a sloped rounded shape.

This will allow very easy removal of the window inserts.