Headlight socket of a 2343

You need spring R-91in the socket before you thread the lamp lead in.

Larry

Yes, there should be a spring between the base of the socket and the insulted disk with the center wire.

Thanks to all of you.  You would think the people (nameless but not Amazon or Ebay) I bought the "socket base with wire" from whould have included the spring since they seem to go hand in hand.

At least you would think they would have warned me that such a spring was needed

Wad up a piece of paper in put it in the socket under the base the bulb sits on.  That should give you enough pressure for the bulb to make contact.  It still does not light you have another problem.

Bill, Good idea.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I was thinking about using a spring out of an old flashlight or even reconfiguring a spring out of a ballpoint pen.

Also if there is enough slack, you can just spin the spring on.

Thanks to all who replied.  Got a spring installed, new bulb, and still no light.  As Bill DeBrooke said "then I have another problem."   So I checked it out.  Not on a rail but using a small old transformer and two wires.  The problem is that the "rail glide" is not making contact with the rail.  When I hold a wire to the metal bubble portion of the glide the light works.  The gluide has no "spring action" to it.  I tried cleaning it and making sure it was install properly etc etc.  But it is just being held up too high and not making contact with my Fastrack.  The F-3 Power unit has no problem like this.  Only my F-3 dummy unit does.  Is there a way to adjust, fix, repair the gluide so it will be more "mobile" and have more "spring to it" and eventually touchdown on the track?

I just check again.  There is a plastic spacer under what I am calling the rail glide---the spacer is cracked and is really only half there.  It needs to be replaced with a new one.

But I am not sure that even with a  new "spacer" more spring will be added to the "rail glide."  The rollers are good and one looks like it was replaced then used very little.

Maybe I should just replace the whole "thing" and keep the old one for parts.

Suggestions?

Maybe the pick up rollers were replaced with the wrong part? My 2333  rollers are pretty thick, if i recall correctly. Definitely you need to replace the plastic insulator. You may just have wrong parts installed.

The Collector Assembly is available here, and the Collector Insulator is here.

Larry

TrainLarry, again thanks.  Do you have another source.  Your first "here" takes me to a supplier I have had problems with in the past --2 or 3 times.  Maybe The Train Tender you referred me to earlier has these parts?

The second "here" does not picture the small plastic insulator directly under the "rail glide" itself.     

Again, I apologize for not using the correct terms.  I have even looked for a diagram from Lionel that spells out the major parts of a F-3  --I don't need a diagram of every spring, screw, washer --just the major parts taken collectively.

Now I think the problem with my rail glide is that the new wire I got with the light socket base is thicker and firmer than the original Lionel wire used?   Also, I slipped the new wire under the wire holder by the "rail glide" which is supposed to move up and down freely.  Well, I think the new wire is too firm and is the culpert not allowing the "rail glide" to plunge up and down freely.   I still need the little plastic spacer there but IF I remove the wire from the wire holder it has a lot more "movement" up and down.

QUESTION:  Will the wire holder short things out if it comes in contact with one of the copper spring braces?

The wire goes on the e-unit hot post (where all the wires are connected).  If the insulator or rollers are bad the engine would not run.

Gene Anstine

Look at the attached drawing of the F3 power truck and please use the terms in it. The terms you are using are confusing.

Is your 'rail glide' the Collector assembly at the bottom center of the drawing, or the Shoe assembly at the bottom right of the drawing?

The Train Tender does not have the Collector assembly in his online list. Maybe a call to him to see if he has it or can source it for you is needed.

Thanks Larry.  That has been the diagram I have been looking for.   Sorry about my stupidity.

Larry, I am trying to get that 2343 F-3-2. pdf diagram you sent to me to print out so I will have it posted above my computer.  No such luck.  But I will keep trying.

Wizen what kind of PC Windows or Mac, Windows print and under print options should be a selection Print to PDF and save to your desktop. MAC will have an option SAVE as PDF and then do the same, I do it all the time.

Willie Nelson says it's the greatest railroad song ever written.  Do you know who wrote it?

The glide is for the coupler, and could easily just be eliminated.

I thought I needed it to get the head light on the F-3 dummy to work

The headlight wire gets connected to the  roller pickups of the dummy unit.

The sliding shoes are used only to energize the couplers when stopped over an operating track.  See the attachment for the wiring diagram of the loco. The wiring for the headlight and sliding shoe is identical for the dummy unit.

Larry

"The City Of New Orleans" was written by Steve Goodman.

Larry