# Questions about Tyco Mantua Maintenance Car Work Caboose with Floodlight



## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

I am rehabbing a car from my childhood and have some questions.

This is the Mantua PRR maintenance car with floodlight, sometimes called a "work caboose." 

While the light operates on a AA battery, I seem to remember that the wheels under the light were metal. 

Was the light powered by a combination of the battery and the track? If so, does the truck holding the metal wheels also need to be made of metal?

Thanks in advance.


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

I have the Durango variant of that car. The Durango gets its power from the track. Brass wheels on one end ofthe axle, plastic on the other. One set of trucks picked up power from one rail while the other set picked up from the opposite rail.


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## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. Does the truck housing the metal wheels also need to be made of metal?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

They are the plastic trucks with the wipers extending thru the two holes to either side of the king pins.


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

Mine looks just like that, but it has Durango on it. It has the springs and wipers on it. It works best when it's not moving. Sometimes I can get one full pass, then it flickers. I have cleaned the track and all the contacts on the car.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

rrgrassi said:


> Mine looks just like that, but it has Durango on it.


TYCO put out 3 versions...still looking for the Durango model...:thumbsup:


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

ShockControl said:


> While the light operates on a AA battery, I seem to remember that the wheels under the light were metal.
> 
> Was the light powered by a combination of the battery and the track? If so, does the truck holding the metal wheels also need to be made of metal?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


It was track powered, it sounds like a creative owner in the past got tired of the flickering lights and rigged it for batteries.










Take care...for this to work, they had to change out the original 16v bulb for a 1.5 volt one...


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## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

shaygetz said:


> It was track powered, it sounds like a creative owner in the past got tired of the flickering lights and rigged it for batteries.


But this was my original car that I had as a kid. No one worked on it. What is underneath the body on most models?


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

Can you take pictures of it?


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

You could use a small bridge rectifier with a capacitor
across it's output. It would hold a small charge to
keep the bulb burning when you hit bad track spots.

I did that on my lighted passenger cars and lighted caboose.

The lights stay on steady.

Don


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

ShockControl said:


> But this was my original car that I had as a kid. No one worked on it. What is underneath the body on most models?


That would be a new one for me...try finding it in one of these catalogs... http://hoseeker.org/tyco.htm


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## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks all. I'll have to look at the catalog later and can post a pic. Under the cab are two vertical metal pieces that accommodate a double A battery. Is this indeed the intention, or are these pieces of metal for something else? It's been several decades and I can't remember anymore.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Try these guys, too... http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/


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## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Bumping up an old thread of mine.

When Mantua made the car, it had metal wheels, but it also had optional battery power.

By the time Mantua became Tyco, it was strictly track powered. However, if you remove the shell, you will see the slots where where the metal strips that held the battery were positioned.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

As Shay cautioned in a early post
check the voltage of the bulb to make
sure it can handle track voltage. Test it
with one AA or similar battery. If it glows
brightly, it's 1.5 volts. If so, replace it
with a 14 v or so bulb. If it doesn't burn
at all it may be 14v or so.

Don


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## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Bumping a thread I started a while ago.

The car I had since I was a kid, that was originally my older brother's, is from the Mantua era, circa 1959, with a metal chassis. The colors are flatter - the red is a little darker, and the yellow part of the car has more of an orange tint. 

Since starting this thread, I have picked up a few newer versions of this car. They are from the Tyco era, with plastic chassis and powered solely by the track. The later versions were bright Crayola red and Crayola yellow. All of the newer cars run solely by electrical power. They have a metal block under the body, where the batter slot was placed on the older Mantua Car. 

Does anyone have an older, metal-based Mantua version?


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