Lets see Custom Prewar Lionel Projects

A few tinplate passenger cars that I painted & decaled for the Northern Pacific RR.

      Bill T.

Awesome nice work

A 225E coaxed into a Pacific.

Grandpa's - Lionel Streamliner Set, from 1936. This would be my wife's father.

Stock Set

Gary

Cheers from The Detroit & Mackinac Railway

• Click on photo to enlarge................

tender made from a junk 1680 frame,a busted 2046 tender shell, and some PVC pipe

and a diner made from a 1630 body.

some good looking stuff here 

Amazing

well thanks...but I wouldn't go that far...

Marx NKP tender and PRR Merchandise car converted to four wheel trucks.

Wow, beautiful piece!

A couple of rusty Lionel hulks that have been revitalized.

Steve

beautiful work Steve.

Great to see some engines are given a second life

Great Job by everyone!!! 

Steamer / Dave :  That tender looks great, you should do a how-to article. What paint did you use? It looks exactly like prewar gunmetal grey.

Midnightwrecking / Daniel :  Beautiful paint & detailing. What's the part# for the 4whl pilot you added?

why thank you..Rustoleum Metallic Charcoal.Saw it mentioned on here. might not be 100%,but it's pretty close.

I have one resurrected 1688E (Cab Forward Version-1936), and a second one to be redone like the first.  Also working on three 1681 steamers, in different stages of restoration.

Very nice work, everyone.  Sometimes it is difficult to "redo" a classic engine/car.  But, when the condition warrants, the great results possible are demonstrated in these posts.

Very nice work so far

I have one resurrected 1688E (Cab Forward Version-1936), and a second one to be redone like the first.  Also working on three 1681 steamers, in different stages of restoration.

Teledoc, what do you men by cab forward version? I've recently gotten interested in these.

The cab forward version is quite RARE, as it was the very first issue in 1936.  It differs from the succeeding version in that the cab has "OPEN windows" facing forward looking down the side of the boiler.  The later versions eliminated the open windows from the casting.  There are multiple variations of both the 1688 & 1688E, which varied by the year it was issued.  The position of the E-unit slot on top, the style of motor used, plus the different wheels used.  The early issued wheels had 8 spokes, with a "nub/hub" on rear wheels to attach side rods, where later versions used 12 spoke wheels with same "nub" for side rods.  The early issues were Gunmetal gray, and later were Black.  There were 3 different motors used throughout the various issues.

The actual number of the Cab Forward version is completely unknown, as to how many were actually made, or still exist.  I found out about this version from the competitive magazine that had a complete article on this version.  I was fortunate to find one that only needs side rods to be 100% complete, and then stumbled across the second one about a month ago.   Try to do a " Google" search with using Lionel 1688E and there will be a lot of choices to see a lot of info on 1688's.  The article about this rare version was written by John A. Grams, in I think 1999.  Have fun researching!!

thanks Doc!

Steamer,  If you have any questions about these 1688E's, and even a small Steam loco #1681 that are the other ones I am restoring, drop me an email (should be in Profile).  There is a lot of variations, and Prewar info isn't easy to find.

will do and thanks! I'm looking at a bare 1688 shell for a rebuild project.

Someone should take a few of those 1688 shells and bash an S1 671/2020 trucks and  2671W S2 tender. 

Good grief, what a possibility!!!!!  You are giving me ideas.  My other favorite loco happens to be the PRR S-2 (2020/671's).  I have three 2020's & one 671, and I have a 1688 shell that I have been cleaning up for a repaint, but may decide to try and find another 1688 shell and see if it can be done without a lot of effort.  Hmmmmmm!!!

MTH did make the S-1 at a price of $1299, but don't know when it was offered, or how many actually were sold.  I bashed up pair of 1688's, with other modifications could be conceivable, and definitely would be an "Eye Catcher" for sure.

OK, so it's not really pre-war and it's not Lionel, but it was built to pull pre-war Lionel cars and look the part of a pre-war loco!

Customized Marx 898 on a 999 drive

Art, The pilot truck is a bog standard truck from post-war Lionel Hudsons. I only shortened the wheel base a tad.

Dan.

More Prewar tinplate passenger cars custom painted & decaled for the Spokane Portland & Seattle RR

    Bill T.

 A special Thomas 248.

Fantastic

The standard gauge coal train- - - shrunk down to O gauge using a 254 as motive power.

Tim

Steamer,

Did you get the Olsen link figured out for your new 1668?  You have to jump to different pages (time consuming) to get to what you need, but it is there.  Let's see the finished product when you are done.

yes I did Doc, thanks for the asist, and I'll Be sure to show it here.

That coal train is terrific.