[peter bunce]

Hi,

My AMS coach when new 'squeaked like mad' when pushed along the track. I gently bent the wipers a bit and that squeak disappeared.

Today I have managed to run it in the dark (been too cold/wet before), and the light look very nice indeed - congratulations to AMS, I am impressed.

This brought thoughts as to what the voltage required is for the fitted lights - and then I can use a battery source for them, can anyone tell me what voltage would be required please?.

So far I have not taken the coach apart though I have lowered the couplings by 3mm so they mate with my Bachmann couplings. I filled in the hole underneath added a 3mm shim, new sides to the coupling pocket, and a new longer screw is used and they work well now.

I removed the fitting on top of the bogies (fiited by the D&RG about 1920), as Kevin did - (thanks Kevin) and added some anti roll (boy were they needed!) plates from plastic sheet - they bogie bolster runs over the lower face of them.

Due to the removal (as above) the brass pin that restricts bogie swing is redundant, it can be bent towards the end of the coach so it does not get in the way.

Soon I will attempt to get the body and floor separated, following Kevin's instructions!

Meanwhile I am very impressed with it.

 

[lownote]

I don't have the AMS coaches but I have 3 Bachmann coaches with a similar power pickup scheme. The scrapng drove me crazy, and I tried all sts of things to get rid of it, including a bunch of different conductive lubes--none worked for more than ne run around the track. And they add a lot of drag--a lot.
I finally bit the bullet and ordered three sets of Gary Raymond ball bearing wheels with electrical pickup. 2 ball bearing axles per car. The noise is gone and the cars roll SO much better.
For the lights I followed an article by Dave Bodnar, who suggested using LEDs. LEDs make sense--they draw very littl current and ty last a long long time--taking these things apart is a pain. Dave's article recommended using a bridge rectifier and a big capacitor. The rectifier makes sure the light stay on regardless of track polarity, and the big electrolytic capacitor (35 volts 1000 uf) keeps the leds lit while you go over sections of bad power
I'm very happy with the results--the cars work better and the lights are realistically dimmer and don't flicker