Loco Lights

[Keith Hicks]

Apologies if this has appeared twice.
Help Needed
I

[cp.409067]

*

That looks like a Bachmann "brick" = a Plymouth MDT chassis. If you unscrew the two halves of the chassis block the bulb should come out.

CP

[Keith Hicks]

Thanks.  I'm not very good at putting thing back together again.  They never seem to work properly.
Keith

[JulienW]

You may not need to strip the chassis completely as loosening the screws holing the 2 halves together may be enough to allow the bulb to be lifted (or dropped, if you turn the chassis upside down) out, or leavered out with a fine screwdriver.

If you do use a leaver put some sticky tape across the chassis to catch any broken glass (just in case). The shards would obviously not be good for the skin but also the glass fragments in the geartrain will cause havoc. At best it will cause the gears to wear prematurely and at worst it will lock the thing up solid, needing a strip down to clear the bits out.

Same applies to using a drill to destroy the bulb - the bits of the bulb have to go somewhere...

[Hugh Norwood]

It should just slide out (use a piece of plasticard)

[B.Meldon]

There are no wires to the lamp. It is just held inplace by the two sides of the cast chassis block that are each live to one rail and to each side of the motor.

Brian Meldon

[Keith Hicks]

Thank you everyone for your help.  I have two of these chassis' and got the bulbs out just as suggested.  In fact I only had to loosen the screw nearest to the bulb.

[Frank]

Brian,

Is this a split chassis design then?   When fitting radio control you need to disconnect the pickups from the motor - not straightforward for a split chassis.

Keith,

Have you isolated the motor connections from the chassis?

Frank

[cp.409067]

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It is effectively a split block design held togther with insulated bolts.

In the photograph the offending bulb sits between the two parts of the block.

In 2-rail mode the two parts are live to one polarity or the other depending on the direction of travel.


CP