. . . or will I burn out the incandescent bulbs?
. . . or will those bulbs be too bright?
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Rick,
Your cars will burn very bright. I found replacing the bulbs with 18v bulbs makes them look more prototypical.
You'll probably burn the bulbs out quicker
Depending upon the bulb, you may be able to exchange the bulb with an LED. In the short term, your Lionel engine will still run in Command Control ~16 volts. That will be easier on the bulbs.
Change the bulbs.
Rick,
Even better go to 24v bulbs and you will get a nice soft glow from the cars and the bulbs will last much longer..also less heat.. win win baby!!
Now the LEDers step in. John?
rick s posted:Can I run 1982 illuminated passenger cars with a modern command control engine at 18 v . . .
. . . or will I burn out the incandescent bulbs?. . . or will those bulbs be too bright?
My minimalist answer would be, and I have done this when needed, is to wire the existing bulbs in series with a very easy/minor & reversible wiring change inside the car. If you want to go one step further, you can place a small DPDT switch on the interior floor(or installed so it can be flipped from outside the car) to choose series or parallel as needed.
Easier is put a diode in series with the track feed, drops the voltage to the proper level.
Much nicer is, of course, an LED upgrade. 
They do glow bright for a little while at 18 volts
Though they are a bit expensive to swap a fleet, LED's will be the way to go if you want dim lighting. Remember to check any plastic bodied car for warmth when running at high voltage. I've seen many a ruined caboose.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Easier is put a diode in series with the track feed, drops the voltage to the proper level.
Much nicer is, of course, an LED upgrade.
I thought John would get in here. I purchased his conversion kit at York and have not looked back. If you want to do this only once, the conversion is a great solution.
Also, goodbye flicker.
Thanks everyone.
