Help with Lionel Postwar Celebration FM Train Masters from the late 1990's

Most diesels have a metal strip up in the roof of the model.   I have never heard of them use a wire soldered to a handrail on a diesel,  never have seen one near a speaker either...

Marty

TRW,

I have the Jersey Central version of the PWC TM.

I can pull the shell and snap some pics if you need. Just let me know.

Graz

See part no. 6....

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...c3-b87e-81a7f3b5009b

Martin Derouin posted:

Most diesels have a metal strip up in the roof of the model.   I have never heard of them use a wire soldered to a handrail on a diesel,  never have seen one near a speaker either...

Marty

Marty, I'm fairly certain these are different, which is why I'm asking.

graz posted:

TRW,

I have the Jersey Central version of the PWC TM.

I can pull the shell and snap some pics if you need. Just let me know.

Graz

Graz, if it's the 6-18321 JC from the late 1990's (and not the one from the mid-2000's that came with the passenger set), I'd love to get a few photos. Thanks in advance.

Gerry Burns posted:

See part no. 6....

 

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...c3-b87e-81a7f3b5009b

Gerry, I appreciate the link, but that's a later Virginian from the mid-2000's. It's possible it was build the same as the ones from late 1990's, but I'd like to know for sure.

A friend has also volunteered to take photos of his 6-18327 Virginian when he has a moment, so between his photos and those from Graz's Jersey Central, I should know for sure the antenna method used on these locos.

I'll be sure to let everyone know the answer, once I have it in hand.

Thanks-

TRW

I had the PWC blue and yellow Virginian that came in the set.  I'm pretty darn sure it had the foil looking antenna on the roof.  I had to open it up because the engine was fried. After two laps the pullmor, or was it two? had that one of a kind smell.  I bought it from a forum member, but I didn't say that here.  I got it fixed and liked the engine in appearance and operation, but the sounds were very weak.  The sounds itself seemed good, just a bad speaker I think.  I remember the start up sounds being somewhat entertaining.  Like someone dropped a forks full of heavy metal on the shop floor.  I'm sure a new speaker with a housing would have perked it up quite a bit.  They also made a black and yellow sold alone unit.  I wanted to get that one and run those two together someday, but that day is a ways off now.  The black and yellow is sharp.  I'm almost positive the New Jersey one came out at the same time, so that should be accurate.  This was probably 1999, I'm pretty sure about that too because I remember the catalog.  It's the first year I got started in this.  The set with the blue and yellow Virginian may have been a couple years before.  Pretty sure about that too. I did like that engine.  Now I remember it had two motors.  Those two Virginian units would look cool together.  Big and boxy with a lot of pullmor power!  Makes me salivate like Pavlov's dog.  Maybe someday I'll get a pair together... 95% sure it had the foil antenna on the roof.  I can see it now.  That was a lot of remembering, sheesh!   Sometimes it's hard to fit in between flashbacks...  Good luck.  Cool engine.  Would love to hear the sounds through a good speaker.

TRW,

Sorry, My JC FM is the one from the PWC set with the three silver streamliners.

PaperTRW, hopefully here is your answer.  The attached photos are of the 1999 6-18327 black and yellow Virginian.  As can be seen, the antenna wire IS in fact SOLDERED to one of the hand rails!  The bent over "solder lugs" holding the handrail to the cab are actually part of the handrail/catwalk assembly that protrude through slits in the cab.  This is not my engine but a friend's, and I know he bought it second-hand.  So whether the yellow wire nut is "factory"  I can't say, but it makes sense and makes removing the cab from the frame easy so I'd go for it.  Good luck.  John

Mine was the blue and yellow.  That's interesting. 

Graz -- Thanks for getting back with me.

William -- Thanks for your thoughts.

John -- Perfect! I really appreciate the help. The model I'm trying to put back together is also a Virginian, and it's good to see that the details match what you've shown.

The part that confused me is that I know for a fact that the die-cast metal speaker enclosure (you can see it in one of John's photos above) was designed brand new for these locos, and was intended to hold a metal antenna (also designed specifically for these) strapped across the top of it with two plastic stand-offs. The stand-offs are still on the enclosure as per John's photos (and also the one I have here), but obviously something changed between design and production. The wire-soldered-to-a-handrail method is quite unusual, but there had to have been a reason for doing things that way.

Thanks again to everyone for the assistance!

Todd Wagner

Wow, novel idea to use the handrail on a trainmaster. I would have gone with the wire attached to a metal strip attached to the roof. I can’t imagine Lionel saving that much money using the handrail method.

Steve