A friend and I recently received a generous donation for our collection used at the Redford Theatre for our annual Christmas train and village display. A patron approached us and happily donated approximately six storage bins full of his and his brother's childhood Postwar Lionel trains and many accessories. Most were fairly high end items from the time period, many with boxes sporting Madison Hardware labels. Sadly, many of the train items were showing heavy signs of use and poor storage conditions. I've been slowly working my way through the collection and have gotten two of the locomotives running.
Lionel 681 Turbine and passenger cars making up the 2150WS set. This locomotive only required basic servicing and ran great. The original tender shell is in very rough shape and will need replacing. My 736W tender for my Berkshire filled in for this video.
A Lionel 6250 Seaboard NW2 which had some pretty bad rust on the bottom side from poor storage conditions and didn't show any signs of life when first tested. It just required a good cleaning, two new light bulbs and some wire. After a good lubrication it runs like new.
The third locomotive I just opened up this evening is a 2330 GG1 from 1950. This one is similar to the NW2 as far as condition, but it's far worse as far as the rust issue and is missing some parts such as a couple screws and the pantographs. The motors and E unit worked properly when the rollers were bypassed, so it will also be a good runner when finished.
