Found: Postwar Girls train, but now what?

Congratulations on your find. I had a similar thing removing black paint from a Lionel small prewar locomotive. I found believe it or not that alcohol removed the black paint and did not damage the original black paint. Not sure if that would work for you but it's worth a try. I would never repaint it pink. Figure out a way to remove the black. If you repaint it you destroy any collector value.

I would look for another girls engine, and buy it. Sell this one as is.

  I've got a black 2037 that someone painted pink.  A genuine Krylon job. Hope you get the paint  off. Let us know how it turns out.

@Dwayne B posted:

Congratulations on your find. I had a similar thing removing black paint from a Lionel small prewar locomotive. I found believe it or not that alcohol removed the black paint and did not damage the original black paint. Not sure if that would work for you but it's worth a try. I would never repaint it pink. Figure out a way to remove the black. If you repaint it you destroy any collector value.

I mostly agree. Try removing the black, nothing to loose. Alcohol is a good choice. Most other solvents will remove the pink too. As far as collector value, its already been lost. If the pink is shot then repaint it pink and use it as a place holder until you find a better engine.

Pete

For cleaning the cars, mild dish soap and water, with a soft terrycloth face cloth or dish towel, gently applied.

Thanks to you all for your input. I never thought I’d ever see this set for sale locally given that I’m up in Canada so I’m pretty happy about it. My little girls are even happier! My take on this train is that it was about 50 years early in conception and would have had a much better response in current times.

I will try to remove the shells and clean them. On the loco, I will try some isopropyl alcohol and will report back on the results. Fingers crossed.

@Gerhardt posted:

Thanks to you all for your input. I never thought I’d ever see this set for sale locally given that I’m up in Canada so I’m pretty happy about it. My little girls are even happier! My take on this train is that it was about 50 years early in conception and would have had a much better response in current times.

I will try to remove the shells and clean them. On the loco, I will try some isopropyl alcohol and will report back on the results. Fingers crossed.

If you want to save the numbers, you will want to avoid getting any alcohol on them. They will come off fast, likely faster than the black paint.

Pete

I wouldn't clean the shells either.

Agree with trying alcohol, …..the pilot is a separate part, …I’d make that my litmus test,…..try soaking the pilot in 91% just a little while, then see what happens …..try scrubbing an inconspicuous spot with a stiff small NYLON brush,….do not use a wire brush!….if successful, immediately wash the part in warm soapy water ….and inspect your results ……then move on to the bigger fish,….also agree with above, what do you have to lose?…it’s already ruined….

Pat

Thanks Pat, Pete,Mark and Eddie. I’m going to take the loco apart to lubricate and get things running so I will try the pilot at that point. As far as being a collectors item, I feel like in its current state it’s probably worth the same as if I had it nicely repainted. The good thing is the original pink is still visible underneath. On the other hand, I may leave it as partially black and pink as a relic to what happened to a lot of these locomotives. Will see what happens! I have a Williams repro so my girls are not without a pink train, they just don’t know it yet! (Christmas is coming…..)

I read that sometimes dealers painted the engines to get rid of inventory.  Similar to MOPAR dealers removing the rear fin and nose cone on Superbirds and Daytonas

Repainting this yourself would not be difficult nor expensive but if you wanted something that looked like new but did not cost as much as a mint engine would cost today consider a professional restoration. This outfit has been doing it for years and many can attest to his work.

https://www.llmodeltrain.com/L...TALOG%202019%201.pdf

Pete

I wouldn't worry about collectors value, the girl's train is an interesting piece and to have it for that reason is great. Collectability with something like this would be reserved for mint condition pieces or if there was something like a rarity.

It might work, I think Lionel originally used an enamel paint that was baked on, and if you want to try and see if you can remove it, alcohol might be the way to go, using a rag dampened with alcohol and gently rubbing. It is possible the paint used was an acrylic and in general IME (and I claim no special expertise with paint), older paints tend to be tougher, especially if they did bake on an enamel versus a lacquer based paint. The worse that can happen is you would be removing the pink paint as well, but given the state of the engine you really aren't losing much.

If you like it simply as a historical artifact, then either repaint it pink yourself or have someone do it. Again, won't make it a collectors item, but will I hope give you enjoyment, which is what matters

I am not so sure the Girl's train would do much better today (though I hope your girls love what you are getting, that is class!), I think Lionel misread what girls would want, pretty much the same thing as the boys I suspect.

Another thing to consider, it may have been painted black to hide defects (play wear) in the pink paint at that time. Now, it's down to bare metal in places.

My vote, strip the black off and see what you have. Then strip the pink if you have to and restore it.

Dave

Update: so I did as suggested. I removed the pilot to do a test and soaked in alcohol. After only a few minutes I noticed pink in the alcohol. The alcohol is stripping both the black as well as the pink off and (as the pink is still fully exposed on the undersides where the black spray didn’t reach) it’s actually stripping that layer easier than the black leaving exposed metal.

So the dream of being able to expose the pink under layer will not be a reality. It is a shame. I could tell, Taking the screws and motor out that it has never been removed. I don’t even know if I can salvage the original blue heat stamped numbers. I thought I would try and paint around them but I see the black bled through their masking on the one side when they painted it  

I think I will restore and repaint as I don’t see I have anything to lose. Anyone know a good source for colour match paint? Thanks again!!

Sorry that didn't work. One note, when trying to strip specific paint it is better not to soak it ime,but rather wet a rag w alcohol and gently rub. Probably wouldn't have worked in this case, makes me wonder if the pink was original paint.

In a last ditch effort, Try EasyLiftOff.