Observation car lighting | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum

lehighlineOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I have a MTH Lehigh Valley observation car ca. 2000 which does not light. I suspect it has never worked correctly. I only noticed it because I was running on the layout and turned the room lights off.

I opened the car up. This one has wiring from the pickups to pads on the frame. Contact springs them transmit the power to the lights in the upper part of the car. I connected power leads directly to the spring contacts, and the lights in the car all work. So far, so good. Then I put the frame on the track, powered it up, and connected test leads from a volt meter to the contact pads. The reading (~13v) matches that on the track! Which means the problem is in the pad/spring interface. But I see no way to adjust anything. Anyone run into this, and how did you solve it?

Chris

LVHR

1/28/173:10 PM

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gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Remove the springs and stretch them.

lehighlineOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

That did the trick!

Thanks, John!

Chris

LVHR

gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

That's SOP for me when I take one of these apart. Even if they're working, I give them a little "stretch" to make sure they'll keep working.

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