I’m brand new to this forum so I hope I’m not being strange.
I am currently restoring one of these items with backup light assy. It is my understanding that these were manufactured by Madison Hardware. Can anyone give me some history on these,and if you currently have one, I am in dire need of some photos of the inside layout of the light and mounting. Thanks, Rick[8]
Rick,
I don’t have the answers for you, but you came to the right place. I would like to welcome you and suggest that you could do a search of this forum for any questions you have. I have never seen one related to your tender, so don’t think it strange. Good luck,
Dennis
Madison hardware used to run ads in the Model Railroader back in the sixties and seventies. I vaguely remember a picture of a tender ,which was made of metal, would appear in the ads. If you have any MR back issues, look at those.
George
I believe CTT did an article on this back in the late 80’s or early 90’s. If my memory serves me correctly (which it often doesn’t), it seems that Lionel put lenses in some of them, but never lighted them. I had a 2671 with the lenses, but not lights. The Ctt article went into a fair amount if detail on this subject, but I can’t remember the issue.
I believe the very first issues of the 2671W came with a bracket , light and lenses from Lionel but it was soon eliminated. Of course being a rare variation somebody started selling aftermarket light kits for these tenders. I have no idea how you’d tell an original from the add-on
Update: I found a reference in the TCA book on fakes and repros. A few original 2671 tenders did come stock from Lionel with a bulb and lens. Madison Hardware did supply after market kits. On the original the center lens is coated with red ink, on the repros it’s not.
I am not familiar with this backup light; but I have a suggestion:
It sounds like the light might be wired to be on whenever there is voltage on the track, since Lionel colored it red to make it look like a tail light. A white light to the rear doesn’t look right when going forward. But there is a fairly easy way to make a white light directional: Just wire it between ground and one of the motor brushes, instead of the tender pickup.
This of course requires running a wire between the tender and the locomotive. While you’re at it, run two, one for the light and the other to connect the tender pickup to the locomotive pickup, for more reliable operation. You can make very unobtrusive connections by using pairs of loose connector pins, which can be hardly larger than the wires. Cover all but the business end of the male pin with shrink tubing. Reverse the connectors between the two wires to make it obvious what plugs into what.
The light will not go out completely when the locomotive is going forward; but it will glow so dimly that one is unlikely to notice it.
This trick works on just about any postwar locomotive, steam, Diesel, or electric.
A simple way to hook up a light would be to wire it into the pick-up roller on the tender that operates the whistle. Coming directly off the pickup roller will keep the light working all the time, and not require a tether to the engine.