New Lionel Nickel Plate "Mars Light" Swap

A few people have attempted the swap and have gotten the boiler front off. I will caution you though, folks have mentioned once that task has been completed that is is VERY EASY to pull the wire leads off the LED that swaps from one front to another. Just a heads up. Sorry I can't give you more info on the swap.

If you look at the boiler front under the screws you have to take out, on the frame you will see a small part looks like a tank of some kind. This is held on by a Philips screw, remove the screw. Flip the engine over and find the magic position to remove part. It will only come out one way. With this part removed you can get a screwdriver to the bottom screw on the boiler face.

Apologies for going off topic, but would it be difficult to install the MARS light in a PW F3?  The incandescent bulb would have to be removed (I am going to install LED's so that's not a problem), and there's seemingly plenty of space to accommodate a MARS light. 

Again, apologies for going off topic, but I've wanted to install a MARS light in one of my PW F3's for some time now.  They look great in the new F7's. 

Pingman I don't know how hard that would be to make happen. Im sure there is a way to do it. Maybe Alex Malliae will see this and offer some helpful info.

Thanks joker34...I will look for that Tank or whatever it is on the front and see if I can remove it....then proceed  and see if I can get to the bottom screw on the Boiler Front...

Just for the record, I will leave the Mars light new in the box, if things can go wrong, they will.....I really like this Locomotive....Happy Railroading....

I would like to have the Mars light, too, but am also wary of what apparently takes to do this. 

I will save you from the trouble, the mars light on this engine is just not a good look. I think it was cool of lionel to put in the box, but the blinking action just seems a little off to me. I could 100% wrong and the blinking action is the right speed but I just didn't care for it.

If you want a real MARS light effect, I suggest the www.ngineering.com MARS light simulator.  The one for a single LED is fantastic, the three LED one is much more complicated to install, but it sure looks great as well.  For anyone that wants a MARS light in an upgrade, the single LED one is what I use.

Hi John. Lionel's Berkshire NKP 765 Mars light option switches off when the Loco is set in reverse but the headlight stays on (I don't know if this is right or not). I guess that I'm one of the unusual ones that like the Mars light feature on the new 765 so I installed it. But I sure didn't have much luck trying to remove the headlight from one smoke box to the other. I recommend purchasing a new headlight and connector from Lionel and then install it into the smoke box with the mars light.

I wrote Lionel customer service about this. They said last week they were going to upload a video on now to swap it out for us... but I have not checked their website.

Anyone have pictures of the tank, and screw location?

For me exchanging the smoke box was no problem but trying to swap the headlight was another story. I guess I must have done something wrong but the headlight just would not come out of the smoke box shipped on the Loco.

When I wrote to Lionel, the service technician insisted that there was a screw that held this light in place. By removing it, it release the bulb, where this screw is I have not investigated to find its location.

This has been discussed before in other posts.  The led for the headlight is pretty jammed in and most have been pulling the wires off the led trying to get it out.  I found if you use a hairdryer and heat the area up a little bit, it frees up the rubber shrink tubing wrapped around the led base and you can get it out.  The first time I did it by just pulling,  the wires came off the led.  Lionel now has these restricted to order and you must call them, so they must know they are going to have issues with them.  

Would have been nice to have the bulbs and leads in the new boiler front then?

FWIW, you may want to look at Lionel item 38050 which is the TMCC NKP Berk that came out in 2003 BEFORE you go through the swap.  It has a MARS light on it.  If you hate this look, you may want to save yourself the aggravation.  If you love it, knock yourself out.

I have both the 38050 and the first Legacy 765 that does not have the MARS light on it.  The engine looks much better/cleaner without the MARS Light, IMHO.

I really like the red MARS light on the Lionel 844 but the one on the 779 just didn't do it for me.

Now, one man's coffee is another man's tea....so I'm sure some will like the MARS light on the 765.

I have that #779. To me the Mars light is very cool.

It adds dimension to a pretty flat faced boiler front.

Joe