In the course of preparing for, and installing LED lights in LIONEL PW 2500-style passenger cars, I benefited from the numerous posts of gunrunnerjohn particularly, along with stan2004--grj was particularly helpful in supplying details via email--he's a patient man. I also benefited from Rigatoni Express who supplied links to the Amazon and Ebay items he purchased when he did his installation on MTH cars.
So, some specifics about installing LED's in LIONEL 2500-style, 15" aluminum passenger cars:
1. In order to move the frame w/ trucks attached from the work bench to the test track, I had a hard time keeping the trucks attached until I remembered that a couple of months ago I purchased clamps from Sears in a sale that Mike CT posted in a long-forgotten thread. The clamps worked great. I've attached a photo showing this and other elements of the installation.
2. In order to make it easier to assemble and disassemble the cars should it become necessary, I bought some inexpensive (10 pairs for $1.99) male/female two-wire connectors--one end goes to the power supply and the other goes to the LED strip. I also used wire nuts to connect the center rail p/u wiring to allow truck removal which is essential to disassembling the car--I've since ordered some single-wire male/female connectors which will replace the wire nuts in future installations using a DC-DC buck booster with bridge rectifier and capacitor added.
3. On the original PW 2500 cars, the center rail p/u is connected to the bulb by an insulated metal tab. This was very difficult/impossible to solder (for me); so, I used the Dremel with a cut-off wheel to notch the metal tab. After stripping a fair amount of the insulation from the wire, I wrapped the bare wire (conductor) multiple times around the notched metal tab, and then applied solder.
3. Turns out the frame is a poor soldering surface--probably because it disperses heat so well. Again, using the Dremel with a sanding attachment, I exposed bare metal and the ground wire was easily soldered to the frame.
Note: Without a "Preview" feature to use prior to posting (i.e. the feature would allow me/us to see a draft as it would appear if actually posted and edit it prior to posting), I expect to be editing this post. Also, the screw/nut shown forward of the LM2596 module was added when a drumhead was installed years ago. It does nothing for the LED installation.
EDIT 1: This thread has a video of an LED equipped car using variable voltage (conventional) operation, and a photo comparing a stock incandescent passenger car and LED-equipped car.
EDIT 2: The second photo shows the clamp holding the observation car truck to the frame; the notched center rail p/u with orange wire attached; and, about 1/2 way along the orange wire, the shiny exposed metal of the frame, and the soldered, thin, black ground wire.
