Ives 3242 returned to service.

Just my opinion: Given the family history, and your photograph, that loco is way too nice to restore. Definately put it in working order. If the original cloth covered wire is in good shape then leave it be. If it needs rewiring, have your repairman use reproduction cloth covered wire.

I think you inherited a very nice item.

The exterior looks very nice. Cloth covered wiring can rot over time. You may look at it and think it is OK. If it is hard to the touch, it is likely rotted. Then, the movement of the train will cause a short where the wire goes over the frame. If you try to move the wire away from the frame, it will begin to crumble if it is really bad. C.W. gives good advice; using reproduction cloth covered wire will preserve the original condition of the engine. It is not hard to rewire them if you remove one wire at a time and replace it with the same length as you go. I did a Lionel, but did not have the repro wire. I probably need to procure some and do that job over...

George

Lastly, everything can be fixed on these trains. The worst case scenario is that the armature winding failed, but there are even sources to rewind armatures.

George 

agree...leave the shell as is. 

 I have had great results from Ray Sorensen in South Carolina for std. gauge repairs. His phone number is 864 469-6057.

jim z

I have had two Lionel Standard gauge engines repaired by Joe Lechleider  in Winston-Salem, NC. Does nice work and doesn't take too long. Phone #336-407-3539.

Thanks for all the advice, I took it to a friend last night who volunteered to repair it.

I will post a movie when I get it back, in running order.

Ives 3242 restored, and back in service.

The restoration was done by Albert: http://themotordoctor.com.

Very nice !  Ives made nice trains, I have several, mostly standard gauge.

Has a nice, smooth, clean sound to it.  Your friend obviously did a good job.

Thanks for all the nice comments, we are thrilled to have this inherited family heirloom set running, it hasn’t run in probably 60 years. I wasn’t sure anyone could get the set to run again.

Here is what was done to get it working: the armature was rewound, commutator replaced, lamps repaired, lamp wiring replaced, brush holder plate fixed to repair wear due to armature shaft contact and the manual reverse unit adjusted.

Hopefully the set will run for another 100 years.

If you need help like this, Albert “The Motor Doctor” was great: http://themotordoctor.com.

Nice job. I admit I was opening this thread with one eye shut and the other squinted... I was worried you were going to repaint it...

The family, as well as the repairman, all seemed to agree that leaving it in the current "played with" condition was the way to go.

I would like to find a 189 Observation car to round out the set.

I am afraid to clean the set with any liquid at all. If you look closely at the first picture in this thread, you can see discoloration of the paint in several places, some places are more red than others, some places are a milky red.

Maybe the discoloration is where someone tried a cleaning before, or maybe just the effects of time?

I am afraid to clean the set with any liquid at all.

Very wise decision.