This morning at 11:30 Eastern Daylight Time, the last two cars of the Hiawatha and the locomotive of the famous Southern Crescent were knocked off of the tracks by a collapse of construction equipment. The Hiawatha's Cedar Rapids car fell 160 feet over a cliff and landed upright. The impact cracked the spectacular Skytop Lounge glass, and dislodged several of the structural parts of the car. Miraculously, the passengers in the lounge survived. The coach forward of the Cedar Rapids went over onto its side, but remained on the roadbed. Passengers in the coach were shook-up, but all survived without serious injuries.
Not so fortunate are the steam locomotive crew of the Southern Crescent who received burns when the locomotive went over onto its side. The Crescent Limited was stopped in a siding awaiting passage of the Hiawatha when the mountainous stack of equipment careened off of the Hiawatha and broadsided the locomotive. Initial reports indicate ground vibrations from the passing Hiawatha Hudson locomotive may have caused an unsteady stack of storage containers to tumble over.
Well enough of the sob story. The Lionel Cedar Rapids is apart for repair, and I found some unusual electrical / electronics design architecture in the car. The two internal lights are incandescent, but the red flashing light in the back of the car is an LED. Why not all LED lighting? More to follow as the circuit board for the flashing LED is simple to build, so I will sketch and post the circuit here.
To disassemble the Lionel Cedar Rapids, turn the car upside down and remove the forward end bulkhead and the Skytop end. These ends are attached with screws. Pulling from the front, slide out the black steel floor of the car from the body casting. Resist the temptation to remove the trucks while the floor is still in the body because there are inaccessible nuts on the inside of the car.
Ironically, most all of the parts of the car have a Lionel part number, but the plastic Skytop dome does not. Does anyone know what the number of the dome is, and where can I buy one?
