Williams 17" heavyweight passenger cars. Components?

rattler21 posted:

Are the vestibules separate assemblies or are they molded to the sides and roof?  Thank you, John in Lansing, ILL

I have the complete 5-car set, and I just took a look at one of the cars. I can't swear to it, because I didn't take the time to do any disassembly, but it appears to me that the vestibules are separate pieces.

Keith,

Do you think the cars have four components:  one piece which is the two walls and roof,  two vestibules(with doors) that either slide into the walls from bottom or are held in place with a screw, and the floor which is held to the walls with a screw in each corner?

I am thinking of a project car and the way the vestibules are held in place or molded in place has a bearing on the procedure. 

Thank you,  John in Lansing, Ill

I’ll take a closer look today...

I took another look, this time with better lighting and stronger glasses.

Yes, it appears that:

• the roof and sides form a one-piece shell;
• the vestibules, two of them, are separate pieces, each with spring-loaded doors;
• there's a sheet-metal frame; and
• the vestibules are held in place with three screws, two from underneath the frame (which go through the frame and into bosses in the shell) and one from underneath the ceiling of the vestibule (which goes into a boss in the shell).

Keith,

You are correct.  They are fully removable (I had to when I re-painted the roofs on my Chessie Cars).  As you said, there are 3 screws holding them in.  Also, the Lionel Heavyweight diaphragms work great with these cars.  I got some from Lionel Parts a while back and added them to the cars.

Keith and Allan,  Thank you very much.  I can now proceed with the project.  John in Lansing, ILL

John, good luck with it. Please let us see how it comes out.