I picked up two 2055 4-6-4 Locomotives from a forum member, they both seem to be in really great shape and I've had them for at least a couple of years now. I have not run them but they have been sitting on the top of a book case so that I could display them and admire them. It looks like there will be a move to Dallas Texas (Yesss, I'll finally be getting out of the armpit of Texas) area in the future (hopefully within the next year) so I'm starting to get them boxed up and ready to make the move, I do not have the original Lionel boxes for them. While at Lowe's, I came across some painters rags that are rectangular in shape and look to be similar to old T-shirts. They happen to be made from cotton and are roughly about 15" W X 18 to 24" in length. They are not very expensive and are of heavy type cotton, they are used to wipe up paint spills and such. My first question, is it OK to wrap these locomotives and tenders in these pieces of cloth. I don't want to wrap them in tissue paper unless that is what is called for. These seem to be able to protect them better and I can wrap them at least twice around and have enough left on the ends to fold them around.
My next question, while wrapping them for storage and transport, I noticed a tag on the bottom of the locomotives in between the rollers that stated something about following the lubrication instructions from Lionel. These engines didn't come with the original manuals. Does anyone happen to have a manual that they could make a copy of the lubrication instructions and post them to this topic or could someone please tell me what I need to do and where and what to lubricate them with. Also, do I need to lubricate them before putting them away or should I wait and wrap them and store them then lubricate them after I take them back out of the box? I'm just not sure what to do here and any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys I look forward to reading your answers.
J Motts
