Athearn uses 1.5 Volt bulbs that are so tiny they are very difficult to remove and replace. No one makes an LED as small as the bulbs, but you can get replacement bulbs from Athearn or you can try fitting bulbs from a different manufacturer such as Miniatronics.
If the Athearn bulbs are glued in place, you should be able to remove them by carefully pulling on the wires.
Once you get the engine apart, you might want to replace all the bulbs. Friend of mine has 6 of those engines. Half of all the bulbs burned out. He said he had heard that the original bulbs were actually 1.2 volt instead of 1.5 volt. I picked up a bag of 1.5 volt Miniatronics bulbs in what appeared to be the proper diameter from the local train shop for him.
I had the same prob with my sd70mac, luckly my LHS is a athearn dealer and the guy there loves Sd70mac in csx and always keeps a engine in stock as well as parts, and i got it fixed for 7 bucks
cacole wrote: ... No one makes an LED as small as the bulbs...
... No one makes an LED as small as the bulbs...
Ngineering makes micro LEDs and some that are even smaller than the micro ones too. The LED in the middle is a white one, a lot smaller than an Athearn bulb, which is to the right. To the left of the micro LED is a standard 3mm LED.
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
Click on the photos option in the menu on the Ngineering site or click these links http://www.ngineering.com/Nano_white_photos.htm http://www.ngineering.com/Nano_color_photos.htm
I have seen three nano LEDs soldered together in the space of a rotor beacon and mounted on the roof of an Nscale loco http://www.ngineering.com/Rot_LED_construct.htm The videos are on this link http://www.ngineering.com/Rot-beacon_video.htm
I would rather use a 2x3 mm Super-incandescent LED mounted vertically inside the cab with short lengths of fiber optics for the lenses. The light from that LED looks like a true incandescent bulb light, I think (check the photos). I didn't know Athearn glued the bulbs in place. That sucks! The ones I have are installed loosely with the wires secured to the shell. If they can't be pulled out as suggested before, I would very carefully push them back into the cab with a small rod or piece of bamboo skewer of small enough diameter to just fit in the headlight opening. If that doesn't work, you could try to carefully drill out the old lamps starting with a small (maybe a #78 or #76) drill and work your way up. If you chose the fiber optic method you only have to drill as big as the fiber optic rod.