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My oh my, this is a great thread, how come it took me so long to find it? I will have to post some things here.

The first picture is one of several Lionel car haulers that were converted to S gauge and loaded with 1/64th scale autos.

The second picture is an observation car I made from a Polar Express coach for my Pioneer Limited. The other cars in the consist are also repaints of the PE coaches.

Ray1955 PonchosPL6

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Took a Lionel Erie command control bay window caboose and shell swapped with a Southern Pacific. I have tried to sell it, gave up, run it instead. Looks kinda goofy near scaled-sized cars, so it tag behinds some 1990's Standard O cars. Bought a small diameter aluminum tube to extend the light out. No idea why one of the ladders started rusting, I guess I know what to get next time I am at Du Page County Fairgrounds.

PXL_20220213_215253157 - SP baywindow

PXL_20220213_215319433 - SP bay window caboose

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When I first put up this post I made the mistake of creating a new topic. In fact, this thread is where it belongs, so if you've seen it before I ask that you forgive my shameless act of self- promotion. Otherwise, enjoy.

Never one to miss a chance to showcase my shutterbug skills, I offer these pix of my Lionel New York Central  J1d Hudson. Of course, they come with a story.

The Mexican-built 783 Hudson from the late General Mills/MPC era was the first example of a "scale" 4-6-4 Hudson that Lionel had produced since the 1964 edition of the 773, some 20 years earlier. I couldn't wait to get one, but when it was delivered I found it to be both cosmetically and mechanically disappointing. Since it was a direct descendant of the fabled 1937 700E, I figured I should put some effort into making lemonade from a lemon. Here's where I started -

The Guide to Lionel's MPC-Era Large Steam Engines - Trainz


Using many original Lionel parts including a set of spoked 763E drivers, several homemade details and grab irons, and a Madison Hardware motor and tender, I came up with a good running model that is perhaps better detailed than a 700E -

The various Lionel Hudsons in the 700 series all were modeled after NYC J1e 5344, the twice streamlined "most famous" Hudson of all. Given the additions and changes I had made, I didn't want to wind up with "just another" J1e. There weren't a lot of visual differences between a J1e and a J1d, so I decided to back date it.  Also, as another O gauge modeler once noted, I like my passenger engines "all gussied up." He was right, so I did this one in a striping scheme that was sometimes applied to J1d Hudsons in the late 1920s and early '30s.

Having styled it as a J1d, I needed to give it some justifying detail. If you look closely at the picture below, you'll see that the  finished model has an tubular Elesco feedwater heater mounted through the top of the boiler just behind the class lights. No doubt the NYC experts here will know better, but I think this was the main visual difference between the J1d and J1e.

Incidentally, the engine in the background is an original 700E with refreshed lettering. I found some old Letraset Railroad Roman lettering sets in an art supply house that matched the original font and size almost perfectly.

You can apply your eyes drops now. I won't mind. Really.

Cheers,

- Mike

@WP posted:

I love the SP and the WP. And I like the very early SW1 diesels. One day, my young son told me that he thought we could take a Lionel 623 Santa Fe NW2 diesel and sort of modify it to a WP SW1. We had to shorten the body and change and add some details. Then we painted and lettered it. The original 623 was in very rough shape, so modifying it was not a bad thing. These Lionel diesels are a little bit larger than scale size, but  they make neat models anyway.

So here are photos of a regular Lionel 623 NW2 and another one that we modified to be a WP SW1. The photos were taken on our little  4 ft x 4 ft 027 layout.

John, I totally love what you did with the #623 shell to make it a SW1. Your son had a great idea. I'm also a firm WP fan from way back.

I've had this smokebox front from Oleson's for a few years, kicking around the parts bin. Finally found a 675 with a smashed face so I wouldn't feel guilty messing with something in good original condition. Some new handrails bent from music wire. The headlight has a white 3mm LED behind it powered by a tiny GRJ single LED CCS board.

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Replacing Lionel 2025 and 2035, 2-6-4 Broken Marker Lights

I have several  Lionel 2025 and 2035 2-6-4 engines.  I usually buy used engines, without coal tenders, and some came with broken front Marker lights.  These Marker  Lights on the 2025 and 2035 stick out more than say 2026 engines and break off easily.  I bought a new boiler front for one engine for $10.50 years ago and they cost about $20 each, with shipping, on ebay now.



Lionel 2035 with Original Marker Lights sticking up

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Lionel 2065 with maker lights inside the diameter of boiler front, (these marker lights light up).  These are the model for my repairing broken Marker Lights
IMG_1344
Three or more of the 2025 or 2035 boiler fronts, with a missing marker lights, were fitted with replacement Marker Lights.  I used a plastic spurn, the round plastic waste material that holds parts for model planes, cars, etc., for the marker light body.  A drill bit and sharp pointed X-Acto knife were used to make the dished in part that holds the green jewels.  JB Weld was used to glue the plastic marker light body to a cast metal boiler front. It was painted with Krylon semi gloss black paint.  The green jewels were then glued on with E6000 glue.
New Marker lights and chipped headlight lens!
IMG_1306
Three of my rebuilt marker lights, with the third from left having original marker lights.  What a handsome group of 2035 steamer front ends.
IMG_1351
These is an easy fix and three rebuilt Lionel 2035 marker lights have saved me $60 in 2022 money.
Charlie

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Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie

Here is my homemade rocket from my post, on this topic from 9/7/2020 on page 11.  I made fun of how Fat my rocket and the original Lionel 6470 rocket were.  Lionel's rockets were toy Sterling Plastics pencil sharpeners.

IMG_1891



In the 6-14-22, WSJ, they had the following picture of the SpaceX Starship rocket, largest rocket ever built, getting ready to launch into orbit for the first time .

IMG_1603

It sure looks Fat to me, so Lionel's and my rocket have similar length to diameter ratios!  This makes my homemade toy train rocket and flat car not as toy like as I thought.

Charlie

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Hey Charlie, just for your (and anyone else who might be interested) information, the Mickey and Big Bad Pete boxcar came from the factory with large round cut out holes in the roof. I don't know if any other animated boxcar came with the same large round cut out holes.

I just compared my Mickey and Big Bad Pete to the photos above, and it doesn't appear like das boot had to enlarge the roof openings anymore than they originally were, so this was the perfect candidate car for his project.

Anyways, just in case someone's interest was piqued for attempting a similar project to the one posted by das boot, the Mickey/Pete boxcar would be a good place to start. And since I suspect Lionel did a pretty large production run of that car, they're not too hard to find.

Hey Charlie, just for your (and anyone else who might be interested) information, the Mickey and Big Bad Pete boxcar came from the factory with large round cut out holes in the roof. I don't know if any other animated boxcar came with the same large round cut out holes.

I just compared my Mickey and Big Bad Pete to the photos above, and it doesn't appear like das boot had to enlarge the roof openings anymore than they originally were, so this was the perfect candidate car for his project.

Anyways, just in case someone's interest was piqued for attempting a similar project to the one posted by das boot, the Mickey/Pete boxcar would be a good place to start. And since I suspect Lionel did a pretty large production run of that car, they're not too hard to find.

"a good place to start"

Spot on, the Mickey/Pete car is near perfect for dueling figures. The big question for any "Spy vs. Spy" kit basher is how much Spy figure do you trim with a Dremel tool? With my blue example, I kept more figure but had to trim the bomb. With my gray example, I cut more of the figure and did not have to trim any of the bomb for full operation.



spy2spy1



Either way, it was fun to do.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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