# Caboose lighting kit



## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Does anyone make or supply a caboose lighting kit for Lionel Caboose circa 1981??


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Not that I know, but it should be pretty easy to do. You may be better off looking for a lighted caboose unless you have a particular attachment to this particular car.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Are the wheels and body of the car plastic or metal? If metal, you can buy a pick up roller that attaches to the truck and an old school light and clip. If it's plastic, it's best to buy a new one.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm sure the wheels are metal, there was only a couple of years that Lionel actually stooped to plastic wheels.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

I know because I have some, don't know the years they were made. Safe for my daughter to chew on!


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Not that I know, but it should be pretty easy to do. You may be better off looking for a lighted caboose unless you have a particular attachment to this particular car.


No attachment, just thought it would look cool going around the tree with a lighted caboose, I thought a kit would be just a few bucks, unless someone out there is in the holiday spirit and has one for cheap they want to get rid of.

The folks on ebay seem to think the used cars they wish to sell are gold plated or something


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## callmeIshmael2 (May 28, 2012)

*Thar's gold in that-there eBay!!!*

I'm with you on this one. There are, in fact, a large, hoary bunch of non-train people out there with some average or below-average trains that may or may not be Lionel, who equate those trains with being nearly worth their weight in gold. Buyer beware is the code. It is still possible to pick up very nice postwar cabeese such as the Lionel #6457 from the late 40s or early 50s at 12-20 bucks apiece (also #6357 are nice, but only one coupler). The 6457s are lit, have caboose ladders and toolboxes under the frame and operating couplers at both ends. They have that authentic Lionel quality look you don't find in most cabeese made after the 60s, unless you pay honkin' bucks. I think we're all sick of eBay being the great leveler, but when you have good people in other countries who are starved for quality trains, they are also bidding on those items, and willing to pay outlandish shipping and import taxes to receive the trains we get in 4 days with little fuss...


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## Kwikster (Feb 22, 2012)

Shop around the modern era on e-bay, you can find lighted cabooses readily for not a lot of coinage. Picked up a lighted Pennsy caboose for around 20 bucks including shipping. The thing about many MPC and LLC era cabooses it the axle rotate with the wheels so PW lighting pickups won't work. You can pick up a pair of new trucks with rollers installed for 20-25 bucks, I know Brasseurs has them.

Carl


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Actually, the rotating axle isn't an issue, many current cars have them. The roller pickups you can buy have a wiper for the axles to get around the plastic truck sides.

I'm looking at some fairly expensive passenger cars, both Lionel and MTH, all of them have solid axle wheel sets.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Kwikster said:


> Shop around the modern era on e-bay, you can find lighted cabooses readily for not a lot of coinage. Picked up a lighted Pennsy caboose for around 20 bucks including shipping. The thing about many MPC and LLC era cabooses it the axle rotate with the wheels so PW lighting pickups won't work. You can pick up a pair of new trucks with rollers installed for 20-25 bucks, I know Brasseurs has them.
> 
> Carl


There's a modern era on e bay for trains? Where is that?


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## Kwikster (Feb 22, 2012)

Here's a link I use. http://www.ebay.com/sch/Lionel-/4144/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=lionel+trains The listing 87 to now covers the newer Lionel stuff and also has prewar, postwar plus MPC/LLC eras in it. I usually turn off the buy it now function as much is OP.

Carl


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