I’m noticing that some Lionel prewar 520 searchlight cars have 1 pickup roller (terra-cotta?) and some have 2 pickup rollers (green?). Does anyone know why this is? Are there advantages to having 2 pickups, such as redundancy, more reliable transmission of current to the lights, etc?
As a general rule, the more pickup rollers the better. I’ve had locomotives stall when both pickup rollers were in a dead spot, as most locos have two rollers. Some, however, have four, and my SD18 is one such locomotive and rarely stalls. I had a loco that was missing one of its pickup rollers and thus had only one roller, and thus stalled frequently.
While it is not so important that a light have such continuous power as a locomotive, it still improves the effect, so yes, there are considerable advantages to having two pickup rollers.
Welcome aboard Lionel385E!
Mine has 2.
This is the late crackle version of 45N green over terracotta.
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Thanks for the discussion.
Thank you, pennytrains. I saw your other pictures of this car in the “An Invitation” topic. So Lionel painted the green over the terra-cotta back in the 1930’s?
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You’re welcome!
