3
Replacing lamps on your Pratt’s Hollow Cars
E
ach of the four cars is illuminated by
three 18 V lamps to comply with the
command equipped Phantom
engine and insure prolonged
service on your railroad.
However, during the course of
normal operation, the lamps
may require replacement.
Please refer to the illustration provided for
the lamp replacement.
B
egin by placing the car with an expired
lamp upside down on a soft flat surface.
Four screws are used for chassis-to-body
attachment. In order to locate the screws you
will need to slowly pivot each truck left to
right until the screw heads become visible
through the truck frame opening next to the
coupler pivot mechanism. We recommend
using a Phillips head screwdriver with a mag-
netic tip to ease up the removal. If you find
that the collector’s roller blocks reaching the
screws, loosen the collector assembly by
removing its mounting screw first. Take pre-
caution not to lose the insulating washer used
for the collector assembly attachment. Do not
pull on the collector assembly. You may dam-
age the wire lead soldered to the collector’s
bracket. Rotate the collector assembly to 90°
to clear the path to the screws (see illustra-
tion above). Repeat for the other truck. Then
remove the four body affixing screws.
Carefully lift the chassis from the body
assembly and set next to the body. Take pre-
caution not to pull on the wires.
Next, pry out four rubber bushings to free
the interior reflector. Remove the reflector by
pulling it up straight. Locate the expired
lamp, and gently pull it out of the socket.
Replace with Lionel no. 612-3011-311 avail-
able from your local Authorized Lionel Service
Center or Lionel Service. See the section on
servicing your Lionel product for more infor-
mation. In order to completely assemble the
car, just reverse the above-described procedure.
The 18 V lamps in the cars will look
impressive in both Command and conven-
tional environments, however, if you decide
to brighten up the cars’ illumination for a
conventional layout, you can replace the
factory-installed lamps with 12 V lamps,
Lionel no. 600-8352-311. Please note that
such replacement will tremendously shorten
a 12 V lamp’s life if the cars are operated on
a command-controlled layout.
Couple up the consist (place the observa-
tion car with its taillight at the end) to the
awaiting Phantom engine and run it
through the night! Mystery and fun await!
Collector
Assembly
Unscrew & rotate
assembly 90°
