New owner of 224e (advice)

That's a nice locomotive Bob!

You'll get plenty of good advice here from those more mechanically inclined than I am but just wanted to say 'Hi' and that I have one that I found out in the rural NC mountains. It has no tender however but  I'll eventually find one.

The main thing it is going to need is a good cleaning, oiling, and grease. It can be a bit of a pain to get these apart and back together, but it certainly can be done.

I have two of the 224E series engines and they are very nice. They need some maintenance work such as cleaning the brushes and motor armature area, and need to lube the axles and bearing areas. I clean the motor and brushes with a pencil eraser.

New brushes are hard to find, so I bought a set at a train show from a Lionel parts dealer.

The only thing to go wrong with one of my 224E's is the E unit's drum fell apart, so I changed it out by buying a rebuilt E unit. Almost runs like new.

The 224E that I have is with a prewar passenger set of three lighted cars(2460's, or 2640's) with solenoid powered uncoupling hook couplers.

I have a 249E engine as well, with a freight set. The prewar engines just keep going with some maint work.

Lee Fritz

Hi Bob,

Classic Toy Trains has a article on the 224e in the May 2013 issue.  It looks like the 224e was a pre-war engine and there is a post war model that was numbered 224. Perhaps someone on the forum can verify that the two have similar motors, etc.  if so, then there are a few sources for information. First Olsenstoy.com has a Library of parts lists and exploded diagrams of both the 224e and 224 engines.

Another source for repair articles is JWTrains.com.  He has an article for the 224.  I have used his articles and they are very detailed, with step by step pictures on how to take the engine apart, do the cleaning, etc. 

Lastly, when you run into problems,  the members of this Forum are the best source.

All the best, Dave

Would anyone have a pre-war tender for a 224E available?

Thanks

I believe the e unit is the same one in the 221 engine. I was told the "e" ine the 224E is because it had the E unit. Not sure if this is fact or fiction. Did it come with a 2046W tender when new? It is a very nice rock solid engine. My son and I picked one up at the Allentown meet last year to replace the one that was stolen from me.

The 224E was one of my sons favorite engines to run when he was small. He was very happy to find it at the meet.

When I am in the conventional mood it always makes an appearance. Just clean and lube and you will be fine. They are almost indestructable, except for the e unit. I must have 50 bottles of original smoke pills and this is the only engine that I use them in.

Bob Cramer; if your still using the original smoke unit and need a bottle of smoke pills, email me and I will send you a free bottle to get you going. Best of luck.

Bob

    You are near one of the best O gauge clubs in the world; New Jersey High Railers in Paterson. Contact them, if they can't fix it, they probably know who can,

Ray Marion

The 224E is am awesome loco, but there's no place to put a smoke pellet in any of them.

Oops...good catch. Darn senior moments are happening too often. I mixed it up with a 2046. Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone but myself. Thanks Rob.  

Sam, I don't have one but the pre war tender would be a 2224W. The Post War version came with a 2466W or WX. Same tender, different trucks.

Pete

The tender listed for the 224E is the 2224 in either black plastic or die cast, or gun metal die cast. The other tender listed is the 2689 in gun metal, sheet metal.

Greenberg's pocket guide, 2013, page 28.

Postwar used either the 2466T or the 2466W. page 55, 2013 Greenberg's guide.

This is what Greenbegr's 2013 guide book is listing.

To the best of my knowledge the 224E did not have smoke! A similar model, the 2018 or other may have had smoke.

Lee Fritz

I have my original 224E purchased for me when I was 4 years old.  You should have no trouble running it after it is cleaned, but you'll find it will slip if you try to put too much tonnage behind it. Of course as a prewar locomotive it didn't have magnetraction.  Now is a great time to use it, particularly if it has the old style box couplers, because freight cars with box couplers currently are quite cheap on the market.  Have fun. lewrail

I have the set that was given to my father when he was a child. H e ran it around the family tree's every year without out any corcern of what us kids would do to it or in later years, what our kids would do to it. The Christmas before he passed he sent the set to me. It was the one thing he knew I wanted when and if, The set contains the 224E, black diecast tender, Red Lionel gondola, yellow shell tank car, and red caboose. For years we had all the boxes and liners including outer set box but they just fell apart over the year from handling. I had the set cleaned by one of the local "pros" and he was quite pleased with it's condidtion. Noted that a couple screws were not original but the frame was nice and straight and not damaged. Did these engines have issues with the diecast metal breaking down like so many of the others? He also siad that this was the prewar version and it only had been made for a short period of time. All this information plus the maintenance was well woth the cost of having it checked out.

Good luck with yours. I know mine works like a million bucks againg.

177W 224E set under my tree:

I just checked mine and it is a 2224W Diecast Tender.

Here is a Youtube video (not mine) of the same set as my father had and gave me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe9UzRxEChM

Bob,  the 'E-unit' is the electro-mevhanical device used to reverse direction of travel with AC powered trains. They were used almost exclusively for many years on up to the late 1990s I believe and were gradually replaced by fully electronic units.

Replacements are plentiful and preferred by some...

Thanks for the info here Phillyreading.  My steamer was restored and painted in the handsome gunmetal scheme by Forum member 'Jumijo' so I will need to be on the lookout for either the sheet metal one or the die cast model.

Below you will find a link on general servicing of Lionel locomotives. The fellow who wrote the article is expert at repairing trains. His technique is very thorough, I'd guess most folks don't go to the extent he describes.

http://www.justtrains.com/Service/maint-main.asp

c. sam,

Just for your info, Greenberg's lists the main or reported sales of an original item.

Sometimes near the end of a year, Lionel ran out of a tender or freight car and may have substituted something for it.

Case in point is the 249E engine and tender, Greenberg's don't list all the possible versions for the tenders with the 249E, I have a tender that is not listed by Greenberg's guide book but have almost no doubt that it is an original set item.

Another guide book that is more complete is, Doyle's guide to Lionel trains; either pre war or post war guide. Doyle's has photos too, so you are sure what an item is.

Lee Fritz

Here's a photo of our restored 224E. Jim used a Bar B Que metallic grey and it certainly looks good.

Bob,

Welcome to the forum. Your locomotive was one of Lionel's workhorse starter O-Gauge pieces. Finding a tender is a piece of cake as there are many still around. The 224E is a simple loco to work on. Find yourself a good reference manual. There are many available. IMHO any of the Greenberg books will work.

For parts there are many suppliers out there as well. I use traintender.com & Harry at Henning's Trains. Also, Harry is an active forum member.