I picked these two items up at this past Sunday's Toy & Train Show at White Plains (NY). Well, they are not really in any sort of shape needing to be repaired (except the tower has old scotch tape on it), but I thought I would share some pictures.
Couldn't pass up a prewar 2757 cabin car in good shape.
The lithograghed "HV" Tower was made in the USA and except for the scotch tape, it is in great shape. There are 2 round holes by the HV sign. Anybody have ideas regarding who made it?
Tom
and you can nver have too many Tuscan cabin cars. I dunno who made the tower, but I like it....
Agreed!
Paid $30 for both.
The switch tower is by Jayline
Steve,
Thanks for the info...based on what you said, a little googling and I found another OGR thread with some other pictures. The two round holes on my tower would have held a red and green bulb.
https://ogrforum.com/p...-these-tin-buildings
Tom
Not all came with lights.
Amen on the Tuscan cabin cars. I have one, box latch couplers -2672 plus two post war early ones.
Gene,
Nice looking locomotive and cars. Looks good enough to run another 80-ish years. Wonderful that you have kept it with your family and passed it down.
Tom
That is one interesting tank car lol. Anyone know where I could acquire some AF slot and tab couplers? I got an Ives baggage equipped with them, and they broke en route.
El Classico posted:That is one interesting tank car lol. Anyone know where I could acquire some AF slot and tab couplers? I got an Ives baggage equipped with them, and they broke en route.
Try Hennings.
http://henningstrains.lightspe...e.com/mew-af-o-gauge
Steve
This sad 260E is a current project but it has been delayed by my 1963 Falcon lately.....
Great job Dennis, it looks better than new and should be in the 2016 Lionel catalog.
I think we should have some sort of contest this winter, we all grab one item from the parts/project bin (or from "the bay") that is tinplate and rusty/dusty/musty; We then revive the piece and post the before and after pics on this thread come St. Patrick's Day. Winner gets bragging rights.
I'd love to clean up something like this little caboose that is on "the bay" today, not quite as ambitious as some of the projects on this thread but would likely be pretty fun to try to do.
![s-l1600[1]](https://ogrforum.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/45918752947252735/filePointer/48171004097318006/fodoid/48171004097318002/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/s-l1600%255B1%255D.jpg "s-l1600[1]")
![s-l1600[1]](https://ogrforum.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/45918752947252735/filePointer/48171004097318006/fodoid/48171004097318002/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/s-l1600%5B1%5D.jpg "s-l1600[1]")
If someone else does a repair like that passenger set above, I would like to see it done as a tribute to the troops or something. I have a set of cars I'm shopping using hand tools and sheet metal that will be lettered for Medal of Honor recipients. Anyone else ever done anything like it?
Dennis,
Judging by your great work, I assume you have a belt sander!
Rich (Murnane),
Good idea! I never tried to rehab a lithographed piece...maybe someone else could mention how difficult that would be.
Tom
Murnane posted:I think we should have some sort of contest this winter, we all grab one item from the parts/project bin (or from "the bay") that is tinplate and rusty/dusty/musty; We then revive the piece and post the before and after pics on this thread come St. Patrick's Day. Winner gets bragging rights.
I'd love to clean up something like this little caboose that is on "the bay" today, not quite as ambitious as some of the projects on this thread but would likely be pretty fun to try to do.
I've got one of those that was made from two. One had spent time is a wet box, and was rusted thru,and another that had bad areas. took two and made one. not pretty, but just couldn't leave them all alone in those junk boxes.....
and if you want a real challenge...I have this little gem I used the frame for the top one.....
Dennis you do fantastic work.
From time to time (typically around the holidays) a co-worker will seek me out for advice concerning setting up and running an old family toy train on a loop of track around the Christmas tree. Most of the time the requested advice is in the form of how-to-connect-the-transformer-to-the-track or how-to-wire-a-small-accessory. However, every now and then, I’m presented with a situation that requires some effort on my part. Several years ago one of my co-workers mentioned that a set which had been owned by her great-grandfather had finally given up the ghost and she wanted to know if there was any way to repair it to get it running again. After some discussion I told her to bring the train to work and I would take it home and look it over.
A few days later she brought in a box consisting of a Lionel #259E and a short string of 4 wheel freight cars. Everything had the well-played with appearance of a train that had been handed down through the generations. She said it had just quit running and she was sure it was a case of having finally worn out. I told her I rather doubted that since trains from that period were grossly over engineered. I took it home and, after dinner, started tearing down the engine. When I removed the electric motor from the superstructure I was confronted with what looked like a gigantic glob of very greasy fuzz that had been stuffed into every crevice of the superstructure and every moving part of the electric motor. I pulled this mess out with needle nosed pliers and dumped it into a clear plastic bag. Then I worked over the electric motor with q-tips and old rags until I had everything clean and sparkling. I re-greased and lubed the parts that required grease and oil, put the motor back together, and ran it on a piece of test track. The motor took off like a shot and slammed into the foam rubber I had down at either end of the test track to guard against events of exactly this nature. I cleaned up the superstructure and put everything back together, coupled up the cars and let it roll – it performed flawlessly.
Once I had cleaned up I picked up the plastic bag with the huge blob of stuff and looked at it some more. It looked like a mixture of hair and grease and possibly bits of a shag rug.
I took the train into work the next morning and called my co-worker with the good news that the train was just fine. When she came over to pick up the set I showed her the mess that had been stuffed inside the train and told her what I thought of its composition. She laughed and told me that when she was small they would set the train up on the shag rug under the Christmas tree and not turn it on until the two family cats had stepped over the track and worked their way under the tree. When they turned it on the cats would jump half out of their skin and zoom back to the safety of the kitchen. I didn’t run forensics on the hair but I suspect the cats and that rug were the source of a glob of stuff that had finally brought the 259 to a halt.
Robert,
Great story! Always good when there is a happy ending to these types of repairs. Hope you told her to keep it off of the rug going forward!
Tom
Robert S. Butler posted:From time to time (typically around the holidays) a co-worker will seek me out for advice concerning setting up and running an old family toy train on a loop of track around the Christmas tree. Most of the time the requested advice is in the form of how-to-connect-the-transformer-to-the-track or how-to-wire-a-small-accessory. However, every now and then, I’m presented with a situation that requires some effort on my part. Several years ago one of my co-workers mentioned that a set which had been owned by her great-grandfather had finally given up the ghost and she wanted to know if there was any way to repair it to get it running again. After some discussion I told her to bring the train to work and I would take it home and look it over.
A few days later she brought in a box consisting of a Lionel #259E and a short string of 4 wheel freight cars. Everything had the well-played with appearance of a train that had been handed down through the generations. She said it had just quit running and she was sure it was a case of having finally worn out. I told her I rather doubted that since trains from that period were grossly over engineered. I took it home and, after dinner, started tearing down the engine. When I removed the electric motor from the superstructure I was confronted with what looked like a gigantic glob of very greasy fuzz that had been stuffed into every crevice of the superstructure and every moving part of the electric motor. I pulled this mess out with needle nosed pliers and dumped it into a clear plastic bag. Then I worked over the electric motor with q-tips and old rags until I had everything clean and sparkling. I re-greased and lubed the parts that required grease and oil, put the motor back together, and ran it on a piece of test track. The motor took off like a shot and slammed into the foam rubber I had down at either end of the test track to guard against events of exactly this nature. I cleaned up the superstructure and put everything back together, coupled up the cars and let it roll – it performed flawlessly.
Once I had cleaned up I picked up the plastic bag with the huge blob of stuff and looked at it some more. It looked like a mixture of hair and grease and possibly bits of a shag rug.
I took the train into work the next morning and called my co-worker with the good news that the train was just fine. When she came over to pick up the set I showed her the mess that had been stuffed inside the train and told her what I thought of its composition. She laughed and told me that when she was small they would set the train up on the shag rug under the Christmas tree and not turn it on until the two family cats had stepped over the track and worked their way under the tree. When they turned it on the cats would jump half out of their skin and zoom back to the safety of the kitchen. I didn’t run forensics on the hair but I suspect the cats and that rug were the source of a glob of stuff that had finally brought the 259 to a halt.
This is a funny story, it brings back memories....When I was a kid in the 50's I did the same thing with my fathers old 261. Our cat liked to lay on the track and I would catch him off guard.....and run it full speed ahead...The big problem was the tinsel from the Christmas Tree. We still have the 261 and I run it all the time...
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