Good evening everyone
Just recieved my 1974 thru 1977 Lionel Toy Train Operating Society passenger cars that I bought from this site. Some of the lights work and some don't, seller stated that the bulbs need to be replaced. So how do you remove the roof to get to the lights. The roof of one of the cars came right off by pulling the roof up, however the others are not. There were no instructions or boxes that came with the cars, please help, Thanks Gary
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You have to push in the body at 2 points and twist, the roof will pop off. You may consider converting to LED lighting if desired.
Dale H
There are 2 windows on each side that are thicker than the others, these lock the roof and window assemblies in place. You have to push in on both side windows at the same time, and push the window/roof assembly up. It takes practice, but don't try to pry the roof up without releasing the windows, or the results may not be pretty.
There was a nice "How-to" in the January 2013 OGR (run 261). These are for the 9500 series passenger cars. The article has pictures of what Dale and Luke explained, the picture shows toothpicks being pushed into the corners of the window openings to help clear the tabs on the window glazing from the body.
The windows are the same piece as the roof and it can be hard to get them removed the first time, but it comes much easier with practice.
The secret to getting these apart is to squeeze the windows in from the bottom or sides instead of trying to reach over the top... hold the car in front of you with the side windows facing to your left & right between your hands.
Press in on the notched/raised rear windows with both index fingers using a pushing up motion at the same time to "unlock" the raised tabs from the windows. Switch to the front windows and do the same. Repeat on back windows again... usually by this time you have opened up the roof enough to get a grip on the roof panel and raise it straight up & out of the car.
Don't mar the finish by using wedges or screwdrivers to pry the roof up or the window frames out - it just isn't necessary.
Provided that none were built in 1973, this should help:
Jon 
Thanks for all the help and video, I can now change the lights and while i'm at it i'll replace them with led's
Thanks again, Gary
That's so ez I feel dumb not being able to figure it out...thanks for the help!!!
ADCX Rob and Jon,
You Gentlemen know your stuff!
Thank you, that is easy enough.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Ralph
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