Disassemble Acela Passenger Car

[highdust]

I would like to disassemble an Acela passenger car to rewire it for overhead pickup through the engine. How do you disassemble one? Thanks.

[mlrr]

I would like to disassemble an Acela passenger car to rewire it for overhead pickup through the engine. How do you disassemble one? Thanks.

Dis-assembly can be tricky but not impossible.  First you have to remove the diaphragms at the car ends.  Use small tweazers to squeze the lock tabs together in order to remove them.  I think you can access these tabs from a small opening in the chassis.  You then GENTLY have to pry the shell from the chassis.  A small flat head screw driver should work fine.  Be carefull when removing the shell.  Remember that the wires are fastened to the roof and connected to the trucks so you won't be able to completely separate the shell from the chassis until you disconnect the wires.

Hope this helps! 

Sounds like an interesting project.  Will you post pics?  Sounds like if you were to connect power via the engine itself (more like the real thing) once that bad boy's on the tracks, you need to keep it there.  Taking the thing apart sounds like it would be a nightmare.

Good Luck!