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I recently bought a Lionel 17213 SusieQ boxcar. I thought it would be great to put a couple of hobos inside and create a flickering campfire in a hollowed out barrel. I got the flickering LEDs from Evans, bought 2 cool Arrista hobo figures, and created a hollowed out barrel from a spare wooden barrel. Everything looked great together and the LEDs worked well when I connected them directly to power.

I attached a small roller collector (and a ground strap) to the truck and it worked when I connected power clips directly to the roller and wheels.  Unfortunately I could never get them stable and secure enough to properly track the power rail, even on a small test straightaway.  After way too many hours on this project, I came to the conclusion it would be better to buy than build.

I’ve attached pictures of the top and bottom of the truck. The connection point to the frame is indicated with a blue circle. It is NOT the hole in the center of the truck, and it is connected with a simple screw. The distance from the connection point to the point on the claw with the blue arrow is exactly 2 inches. I’ve looked on the Lionel support site for similar trucks with collectors and nothing pops out.

Does anyone know what part number would match these?

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I heavily modified a Lionel woodsided caboose a while back. I cobbled up somewhat correct trucks for it. No easy way of adding rollers. I only wanted to light up a couple of marker lamps. I gave battery power a try. I found an on off switch from Polulu that could be activated with a magnetic reed switch. I just attached a rare earth magnet to a piece of scrap wood to activate it. Wave it over the car where the reed switch is located and the lights come on. Another pass to get them out. No fishing around for a toggle switch. This is nothing new in the hobby as I remember reading about it years ago. Rapido Trains uses it in their HO passenger cars. They call it Magic Wand lighting. The downside is the battery. As long as the battery can be easily accessed I think it’s just a minor inconvenience to switch it out. You will never have flickering lights or have to deal with dirty rollers or wheels. The recent MTH cabooses had issues with the pickup rollers causing derailments. I ended up ditching the rollers and was able to use a coin cell battery for the markers and added a small LED for the somewhat detailed interior.

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