Lionel 259E restoration

That's really nice !

Hey that looks great- nice job!!!

Looks great.  Amazing what treasures you can find and restore for a small cost.

Very very nice! miketg

Wow - that’s great. Real nice!

Well done!

Signal Woman,

   Now that is my kind of Tin, congrats on a fine restoration job!

PCRR/Dave

Great find and what a great job on the restore!

Like everyone else has said, great job! Does the numberboard in front say 259 or 259E?  I don't see a slot in the firebox area where there would be a slot for the E unit lever. A 259 would have a slot inside the cab for a manual reverse lever. If it is a plain 259 it never had a E unit to start with.

Great job!  Took me years to find an original in such good shape, which is why I don’t mind restorations at all:  you’ve given a new lease on life to a fun locomotive... well done!

BRAVO ZULU !!

Bob Nelson

Very nice, I have been intrigued to have a tinplate train for Christmas time around the tree.  Was looking through potential restoration projects and searching this forum.  This is a really nice restoration and I wanted to ask some questions on methods and products.

What is typically used for paint stripping?

what paint is used, spray can etc.?

Is it just gloss paint or do you gloss clear coat too?

Is sanding performed and if so what's general method and grits used?

Hopefully @Signalwoman doesn't mind me posting these questions to her thread, I just went looking for information, this is recent and shows an excellent result in my opinion.

Thanks!

@Chuck Sartor posted:

Like everyone else has said, great job! Does the numberboard in front say 259 or 259E?  I don't see a slot in the firebox area where there would be a slot for the E unit lever. A 259 would have a slot inside the cab for a manual reverse lever. If it is a plain 259 it never had a E unit to start with.

Thank you! The number board says 259E, and it does have a slot right in front of the cab, it’s probably just blending in with the dark paint. unfortunately the unit was mia.

@TexasSP posted:

Very nice, I have been intrigued to have a tinplate train for Christmas time around the tree.  Was looking through potential restoration projects and searching this forum.  This is a really nice restoration and I wanted to ask some questions on methods and products.

What is typically used for paint stripping?

what paint is used, spray can etc.?

Is it just gloss paint or do you gloss clear coat too?

Is sanding performed and if so what's general method and grits used?

Hopefully @Signalwoman doesn't mind me posting these questions to her thread, I just went looking for information, this is recent and shows an excellent result in my opinion.

Thanks!

gotta have a train around the tree! Old tin Marx locos can be had for cheap and are simple to restore, good beginners projects.

I mostly use a wire brush for striping, though on occasion I’ll use nail polish remover if there’s a crevice I can’t get into. It’s also a worth mentioning that the brass, copper, and chrome were polished heavily.

I use rustolium 2x coverage for trains, normally gloss or matte black. I also bake my paint in an oven, it makes it quite resilient. That said different parts often get different paints, for instance, the headlight on this model was redone using a gold leaf pen.

I typically use single stage paints. depending on the metal and how the paint adheres to it, I will use a primer if need be.

I don’t sand the coats, I can’t be bothered, and it’s not like Lionel did either tbh. I fix the metal, then I paint, if the metal looks good, the paint will follow.

you did a very beautiful job repairing and repainting your engine best of luck running it for Christmas and New Years !

Alan

@Signalwoman Thank you very much, very helpful feedback.  I don't have nay pieces yet, but really like tinplate for around the tree.  I have restored some PW, and even modern as well.

Congratulations on a magnificent job!

CONGRATS on a VERY NICE job! :-)

259E's are great to restore, here are 3 of mine and I have 2 more on the way some day....I think I would like to do a Polar Express.

I want one!