Lionel 42

The best solution is to immediately sell it to me.  (My all time favorite locomotive!)  What a beauty.  $150 was a bargain.

I have two 42's inherited from my Grandfather. Neither one runs right now. One is reasonably complete , but has a bad gear in a motor and a short in the wire harness, the other is a complete basket (more specifically shoebox) case, totally disassembled (that's the way I got it). 

You'll need to remove that modern pickup plate and look inside. There are enough images of 42's on this site to get a decent idea of what's supposed to be there. Greenburg has a prewar parts book that's reasonably helpful, also there's a good detailed writeup of a 42 restoration on the TCA ETrain site.

I've found and bought some used motor parts at larger train shows. Chances of finding motor parts on-line are probably slim, but do your best to turn it into a runner and not a shelf-queen.

You might consider contacting Joe Mania.  If he can't provide parts he probably knows who can.  

Joe@jlmtrains.com

Thanks for the response guys, I am going to remove the pickup and look inside. Once I figure out what I actually need I will get a hold of Joe. If I get this thing running I will post a video. Thanks again. 

CJ Meyers posted:

I have two 42's inherited from my Grandfather. Neither one runs right now. One is reasonably complete , but has a bad gear in a motor and a short in the wire harness, the other is a complete basket (more specifically shoebox) case, totally disassembled (that's the way I got it). 

You'll need to remove that modern pickup plate and look inside. There are enough images of 42's on this site to get a decent idea of what's supposed to be there. Greenburg has a prewar parts book that's reasonably helpful, also there's a good detailed writeup of a 42 restoration on the TCA ETrain site.

I've found and bought some used motor parts at larger train shows. Chances of finding motor parts on-line are probably slim, but do your best to turn it into a runner and not a shelf-queen.

 

I see an article on restoring a 402 but nothing about 42.  Is that the one you meant ?

Any updates?

SGMA1 posted:

The best solution is to immediately sell it to me.  (My all time favorite locomotive!)  What a beauty.  $150 was a bargain.

I will bring both of my 42 sets to Dulles on February 8,9th. Restored but impressive. Passenger and freight.

It looks pretty decent to me .I don't see any wheel rot ,so I would definitely try to find the parts for it . I've always wanted to get one myself but haven't seen one on evil Bay for a long time .

Nice restoration Jim! I like the glossy shiny black you used, what gauge of wire did you use?

I’ve been looking for a 42 recently, but I haven’t seen a 42 for a probably a week or two ither, but they do seem to eventually come by. I did have the choice between the number 42 or the number 5 and I did pick the number 5. Its got a bent gear on the wheel so it’s in a repair shop currently.