Remake of the Lionel 52 Fire car.

Or both. A picture or diagram might help. But process of elimination should do.

A can motor would need ac to DC for sure.

Also it may have the reversing on it too. That takes a closer look at switch wires and or board to know for sure without a diagram.

Did you see the wires for the light leading to the board or chassis And rollers?

Did you look up parts on Lionels parts search on the site?  If there, it will name the board

Thanks for your reply Adriatic. I have not used this unit in a long time, so I thought I would lube and grease where needed and when I opened it up out came a small circuit board which surprised me as I am sure the original did not use anything like that. So for future reference I wanted to know what that was used for if repairs are needed. I have the modern version of a 128 newsstand and when a circuit board went bad I was able to substitute a bridge rectifier to get it to work again. I will try your suggestion and see if I can find more info on the Lionel website.

It's a flasher circuit for the red light.

Half wave rectifications by diode for the DC motor? , reversing by switches then? Another board? Is it still a Pulmor?

I had that and one of the PW ladder cars as a kid that came with a big mercury space/land/ sea /air set ; is that bump and go, or turn with direction by e unit/board. Both ? I just remember wearing them out rescuing those astronauts and putting out the fires on failed launches. Fun stuff.

If it does "burn up", tackling the electronic guts won't be too hard, even from scratch. I'd hunt a can motor and gears for the parts box if anything, then any mechanical bump n go parts next. Axle bushings are cheap

The 18470 Fire car has a Pulmore motor, it was not redesigned to use a can motor.

Thanks Chuck. Knowing that the circuit board controls the light should be an easy fix should the board go bad.

Adriatic- The modern version of the 52 fire car is the same bump and go as the original one. When the car hits something it changes direction and the fireman rotates also when changing direction. The red light on top blinks. What is good about the modern version vs the original is the bulb  does not seem to get hot like the postwar version I had as a kid. Unfortunately I remember melting the roof of the postwar fire car as a kid because the bulb got too hot from prolonged use.

A big thank you to both Adriatic, Chuck and CW for your input to my question.

 Unfortunately I remember melting the roof of the postwar fire car as a kid because the bulb got too hot from prolonged use.

It is not unusual to find postwar Lionel #52 fire cars with this melting problem. The bulb Lionel used got too hot. The fire car was originally scheduled to have a #257 blinking bulb, but Lionel decided to use a #57 bulb. They never used the #257 in anything, but they must have purchased  them before the change. Lionel offered the 257 bulbs in Lionel packaging.
A #57 bulb is rated at .20 amp / 12-16 volts. I'd probably use a #53, which is rated at .10 amp / 12-16 volts. Yes, it has a smaller globe, and will not be as bright, but I can live with that over damaging the fire car.
By the way, the 257 flashing bulb is rated at .25 amp / 14 volts, so the potential for melting the roof might be even higher.

Very good information CW and I will definitely print this page for future reference when I need to replace the circuit and any bulb changes. I think I was about 6 or 7 years old when my dad bought me my first 52. I was very disappointed when the roof melted badly to the point it even made a hole in the roof. I believe my father returned it to Madison Hardware and got a full refund and then bought me something else. Fast forward to now and I find I want all the items I had as a kid, Even the items that did not work well for me.

I guess it might even be a good idea to switch to an LED.

GRJ just did a small led flasher if I not mistaken.

My engine dome and roof were fine. 200smph is what killed mine I'm sure, lol. Likely Gramps knew of this heat issue and asap, swapped in a "Herbie bulb" (#53 ) The ladder car however did have a warped dome....which has me curious about another thing. Is there a coupler on yours? I don't see one.

Mine had a dummy coupler at the hose end for the ladder car, green water tank car, and plastic Red Cross work caboose or red spotlight work caboose.(? Which belonged ?) My set was an X set with unusual items from what I've seen. The KW internals weren't normal either. It was like a prewar Z, with gears. To throttle up, both handles turned away from you (1 clockwise, 1 counter clockwise). Normal is both go clockwise for on. I think Gramps might have been "automotive", the anonymous buyer of the largest set made for the space race on record. There is no address on the order because it was picked up, not shipped. I can't prove it, except to myself...if I find enough clues. I think the papers on the sale might have a phone number though. I'd love to see that! The number here just changed for the fist time since the 50s.

The modern era Green NYC operating fire car had a rear coupler. The front bumper was fixed. As released by Lionel, the fire car could not run on its own. The car was designed to be used with a boxcar containing all the control circuits right behind it, connected with a tether.
I had one, without the boxcar, and rewired it to run forward only by itself.

Modern era Lionel also  made a red operating fire car in the same configuration. I think it was only sold in a fire fighting themed set.

The firefighter in the chair does not swivel automatically.

Well mine couldnt pull more than the ladder car with  a caboose or the tank car anyhow. I rember that because I found it frustrating Lionel would include more than it could handle. Im thinking now the Red Cross caboose was original to it but plastic shell on a die cast bed. I think I used the spotlight caboose in its place because of weight. I think the fire engine had big wheel spin or rail climbing trouble with just the ladder and RC caboose and only slight trouble with  the spot caboose & ladder car. I think I broke the tank cars end cap off along with a chunk of tank and "retired" it early on. I ran the fire pair alone mostly. I do recall the medium metal transformer for that had a thin red whistle button on the top and was kind of powerful for the fire engine, so I swapped regular use with a small 25 or 50w whistle transformer that was sort of weak for my Atlantic with a whistle and the steamer loved the upgrade.

I have the green TMCC model, it's normally dragged out for modular shows, the kids love it.

I have the green TMCC model, it's normally dragged out for modular shows, the kids love it.

Is that the 11988 NYC Fire car and Instruction car? It is described as having Command Control, Railsounds, and crewtalk / Towercom.
Or did Lionel make another?

I am wondering because I like the fire cars. I have several different ones.

That's the one, it has the car and the boxcar with the electronics.  It has great engine sounds, and it's a loud little sucker, kids love it.

They made 2 versions, the NYC and Lionelville fire dept.

With sound?!? If it has a siren that should be better than Squad 51 finding the right address

And easier to adjust the volume, than on a kid going wheoo wheoo wheoo at 6am on Sunday

It was my favorite of my critters. The inspection stationwagon as an ambulance would have made it all 110% complete", though the gang car I had did provide transportation for more men on the hose.

Yep, the TMCC versions with the Instruction Car had full RailSounds, a kid favorite.