Now it’s not a new model by any means, must be 25-30 years old.. single axle drive that (so I’ve read) has oversized wheels... that I will have to live with! anyways, took it apart yesterday to clean the bodies and all.. quite a nice model for its age, some great detail, some seriously lacking details and some utter rubbish pickups! yea, pickups! No wonder half of them were reported as bad runners back in the day (I stress I didn’t buy this, it was inherited from someone... I forget who as I’ve probably had it 15 years) anyway, the pickups. The wheel side is fine, but when you lift the interior up to reveal the motor and wiring, the wires simply slot in to a V in the top of the copper strip and push down to create a break in the insulation . All 8 are like this. Some have a good grip and some are just floating. Not a drop of solder etc. Now I’m about to install a decoder in one for my son to run. I’m not sure if I will later add lights or not. It’s 2 function so I could do. It does have a power coupling between the two cars, so linking some power between them will just look like the air jumper cables. There is ample room above the glazing to fit some interior lights too. but I’m wondering, if to revisit this poor idea for the pickup wiring to make the system work as it should by actually adding some solder! That way I have a reliable 8 wheel pickup (ok, so really it’s 6 as it has traction tires, but it still has the pickups..!)
My brother bought one of these when they first came out. As you say the running is pretty poor. Ours had a motor in both cars. We simply wired the two motors in parallel and it became a great runner.
Indeed it does. One thing I love about my Blue Pullman when running outside. I possibly will, but not just yet.