My weekend Lionel find/purchase

Nice haul, you got a good deal.

Very cool, some nice pieces in there. Those will be fun projects and nice runners once you get them working. Enjoy and don’t forget to share your progress here. I love watching restoration projects. 

You might want to retire the track and get new.  Cleaning old tubular is putting lipstick on a pig.  The motors, wheels, and gears probably just need to be cleaned and greased/oiled.  Lucky you,  these should clean up and look great! Eclectic group of rolling stock.  Looks like sold post war with a couple of MPC not so solid.  ;-)

Nice score!  You'll have hours of fun fixing those veterans up and running 'em!  

Mitch 

Nice pickup! Will be fun to get them running again.

Very nice!  Better than the trains I scored yesterday.  Get them running!

Nice! Nc5 caboose, some NYC gons, Airex box, and a LV hopper. And those locos.

PW classics!

Thanks for the nice comments on this lot if Lionel. I figure this clean/restore/TLC stuff will take me quite some time, as I am not very experienced at tearing my Lionel apart. But, it will be fun.

I notice mention of the Airex boxcar in the above post. What is the deal with that? I am not familiar with that car at all, and thought it was just a cheaper 027 item. However, it appears to be of some significance to those "in the know".

Jeff

mowingman posted:

I notice mention of the Airex boxcar in the above post. What is the deal with that? I am not familiar with that car at all, and thought it was just a cheaper 027 item. However, it appears to be of some significance to those "in the know".

Jeff

The Airex box cars were part of the smaller size 6014 box cars featured by Lionel (Baby Ruth, VanCamps, Frisco to name a few). The significance of Airex is that it was a side-line (brand name) of fishing and outdoor products made by Lionel for a time. I don’t think they are particularly hard to find or worth all that much although some variations might bring a premium.

https://www.tandem-associates....6014-100_box_car.htm

J Martin posted:

You might want to retire the track and get new.  Cleaning old tubular is putting lipstick on a pig.  The motors, wheels, and gears probably just need to be cleaned and greased/oiled.  Lucky you,  these should clean up and look great! Eclectic group of rolling stock.  Looks like sold post war with a couple of MPC not so solid.  ;-)

I've looked over those photos and all I see is postwar Lionel, no MPC era trains.

I've had very good results cleaning old tubular track, so it is in no way like putting lipstick on a pig. Of course, it really depends on how rusted the track is. But if it's not rusted, and it's just dirty, it'll clean up just fine, even if it won't be shiny like brand new track.

I once built a low budget display layout using as much used stuff as I could to show folks the hobby can be done on a budget. The track I used looked similar to the above photos, and it cleaned up fine and the trains ran on it flawlessly.

Now, don't get me started on the supposed "not so solid" of MPC trains. I've got MPC engines over 45 years old that are still running fine. From what I read here on this particular forum about the high end Legacy locomotives, no thank you. So what if they have more features, if the features don't work out of the box, or within a short time frame. Or that parts needed are unavailable: What's the point then? I run trains for fun, not frustration.

But to each his own. And my opinion about high end scale trains, is just that: My opinion. Just as the deriding comments from others about MPC-era trains or traditional trains are also the same: Someone else's opinion.

Mowingman, happy for you and your find. Have fun bringing the locos back to running again. Another advantage here is that most of the parts you could need, are still available.

With the Marx 027 switches, if there is a problem with trains derailing at the frog, adding guard rails on the outside rails opposite the frog to keep the flanges from "wandering" at the frog will help.  It may be more of a problem on the curved route. 

IIRC, Marx didn't use guard rails because they would have interfered with earlier locomotives that had gear teeth right behind the flange effectively making the wheel too thick to fit between the guard rail and the running rail.  Enjoy your find.

Only a casual mention of the jewel, that 2321 trainmaster!  You lucked out getting the maroon roof version too.  It'll be the best runner of the lot.  Enjoy!

Bruce

Mowingman,

   Nice pick up, congrats!

PCRR/Dave

The rolling stock looks in decent shape. Don't be too daunted by fixing them up, it actually is relatively easy (and there are plenty of websites and you tube videos on fixing them). Most of it is going to be cleaning and lubrication (the accessories may be a bit more difficult, depending on what they do. With the light tower likely the big things might be the bulb holder and the wiring, any vibrating accessory it is usually either the fine wires have broken, or the felt shims  between the surface and the vibrating thing have disintegrated...but goods news parts are available.

With the engines, it generally boils down to:

-using contact cleaner or the like to clean the rollers and the side rods, then using oil (sparingly) to lube them

-Taking the motor out (it is a lot easier than it sounds) to get at the gears, cleaning the gears in the power truck and the worm gear on the end of the armeture, and using replacement grease

-taking the armature out, and cleaning the commutator, and making sure the brushes are clean and are not worn down (again, easy to get brushes).

-making sure wires from power to e-unit and to the engine are intact. 

-cleaning e-unit drums with tuner cleaner (lubes as well)

-wire to headlight is in good shape, and light bulb socket is in good shape

-On whistling tender, cleaning the rollers, and light lubrication of the whistle mechanism, clean the armeture on the motor in the whistling tender, lube as needed.

Ton of info on there on how to do this, you tube has a lot as well. 

Enjoy! Sounds like you got a good haul for a good price, which is always great.