Sunday, January 1, 2017

Assembling a Lionel Covered Bridge (6-24117)

What a pain in the #!*&.  I've assembled a number of things over the years, but this one really caught me by surprise, primarily by the time and frustration factor...

The bridge in question is the Lionel 6-24117 Covered Bridge for O-scale trains.  I am not a huge "train person", but we do have one we use during the holidays with the kids.  The manual starts off claiming the kit is "easy to assemble";  That may be true if you have the hands of a child, or patience of a saint, but for the rest of us, it took a little more effort than advertised.

The assembly kit comes with 32 screws.  Really, its not the quantity that is bad, its the size and quality of the washer screws.  They are small, but not so small that a precision screwdriver can be used.  So instead, you need to dig through your toolbox and find the smallest non-precision screwdriver, and use that one with great patience.  Why patience?  Well - none of the screw holes are pre-tapped, and the screw heads strip very easily.  And fully knowing this issue, how many extra screws were included by the vendor - thats right, zero, thanks Lionel.

Your mileage may vary, but after stripping the first screw trying to assemble everything up front, this is what worked for me. Use one new screw, and pre-tap all the holes in the kit.  I did this by twisting the screw in a few turns at a time, then backing it out.  Lather-Rinse-Repeat for 32 holes in the product.  After that, follow the directions, using painters tape to keep the pieces steady while the parts are connected.

If you take your time, the kit can be assembled with good results.  See below for a few photos.






One final note: To power the lights, this 12VAC power supply was used instead of a Lionel accessory power kit.  Just cut off the female plug and solder the wires directly to the bridge leads, finishing the connection off with some heat shrink tubing.

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