New Acela

They're magnetic, but apparently they are also sized so the panel sticks in the recess.  Shades of the F40PH issue, it took an act of Congress to get the panels off!  It appears they measure before they put paint on them and don't leave enough clearance for the painted parts.

Gunrunner John I was worried this is F40 all over again, can you send me a quick video of how they pop off 917-822-8801 thanks so much or feel free to give me a quick call.?

do they lift towards the front/nose of the engine off the magnets?

These covers don’t have magnets, they have little tabs that snap in. You have to push on the side of the cover closest to the pantographs and pull up.

Not sure why the nose cones and top cover don’t have magnets versus the plastic tabs.

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for everyone help I figured it out.

The covers people are complaining about are the same as the original Acela set.  I have the older version and new version of the Acela sets. Covers are no problem to remove once you figure it out how to remove.  They work fine. No magnets needed in my opinion.

I don’t think anyone complained. The instructions in Manual weren’t very descriptive. Appreciate the video!

Not a word on couplers

My acela is still falling apart still as I run it... the coupler came off a minute ago.

Does anyone know what size thread this is? Smaller than a 4-40 or 2-56. Maybe an 0-80? Knowing would be super helpful to replace it if anyone here wanted to do me a big favor...

Adrian,

It would be a metric screw. I'm not taking mine off to actually measure (or I risk messing things up more) but it looks in the order of a 2.0 x 1.4, 2.5 x 1.6 or 2.5 x 1.4. These are metric eyeglass size screws.

@Bruce Brown posted:

Adrian,

It would be a metric screw. I'm not taking mine off to actually measure (or I risk messing things up more) but it looks in the order of a 2.0 x 1.4, 2.5 x 1.6 or 2.5 x 1.4. These are metric eyeglass size screws.

Thanks!

Know this probably don't help much. Coupler on the dinner fell off and I was able to find the screw, washer and bushing. Problem is coupler is striped out or screw is striped just enough so it won't hold. Called Lionel said I could send car back but they are waiting on parts. Asked if they would send me the parts when they come in. They said they would. They told me to call back in a couple weeks. That was last week so gonna call next week.

See my post on my acela coupler fix and issue. It may help. Not sure how to link to it though.

I wonder if you could use Locktite or a dab of JB Weld to hold those screws in if stripped.

Thought about trying that. Figure be better just to wait for parts.

gweedo, my solution worked great. I have run mine now on my test track for a couple of weekends with no issues. I also ran mine at full speed on my 072 fastrack test oval forward and backwards for a bite. there was no derailment issues or couplers comming off or loose.

After fixing the broken engines coupler I went about checking and  tightening  the coupler screws on all the other cars and engines. I also put a dab of superglue to each one. after the glue set I pulled each one by hand very aggressively. this was to simulate that when being tuged and pulled when in actual operation  they would not fall off. they all held up ok and none fell off.

I am on the list at lionel for replacements also. I just could not wait and had to try to fix it myself. I told the woman on the phone at lionel to have lots of spares to sell us. this seems to be the biggest issue overall with these sets unfortunately. the coupler design could have been better or at least all one peice IMO.