Recent Ives 1134 purchase, video added

Mike, a very nice example of the Ives 1134!  The example that I purchased years ago is the American Flyer transition version.  More photos of the different versions from Ives, American Flyer, and Dorfan can be found in the ivestrains.org website.  Here is a link:  http://www.ivestrains.org/CD/w...les/No1134_1.htm#442

Hey Mike,

You’ve got a real pretty engine on your hands! Congratulations! You might want to check hennings for a new pickup. I’d be very, very careful with messing with the zinc parts of this loco. As they can be very fragile and let’s just say… frustrating to repair. It looks as if the wheels and trucks have already been replaced. Not really that big of a deal for most collectors except those who want a pure original. Keep in mind that the best way to check and see if something is truly original or not is to see how clean those parts are. For example, if your engine has original wheels, typically they should be ware and dull.  In other words it should show mileage. Those wheels look fairly new to me. I can’t tell you for certain if the paint is original original or not on your loco… but it does look a bit clean for its age. Remember that sometimes people only repaint certain areas to make the engine look better. The paint on the boiler looks pretty original. The best way to test that out would be to use a black light to see if the paint is factory or not. From what I understand, Black lights will tell you if the paint is lead based or not. If it’s not, it’s been tampered with. The tender does look a hint restored too. And The cowcatcher looks quite clean for a area that typically would have a majority of the scratches. Keep in mind these are all just opinions of mine, not facts. So take it with a grain of salt. There’s a wealth of information and smart folks on this forum, so hopefully you’ll get some good ideas and news on here.

                                                Trainfam

Very nice! Remember a lot of these locomotives were restored during the 2nd golden age of standard gauge and the parts and paint put on then are now approaching 50 years old and have their own patina.  With more emphasis on operating condition now than in the past, some of the petrified grease (often a mix of soap and oil) may be “original” so you’re doing the right thing. That tender casting seems to have mostly escaped zinc pest issues, but treat it carefully, they are really fragile. Clean it run it and enjoy it!

So I am trying to get this to run well on  a temporary set up and having issues.  First issue was the fiber plate holding the pick ups had sagged over time, and not pushing them to the center rail causing eratic operation  I put some shims under to locate them closer to the middle rail and also found the roller I mentioned in previous post was just re-assembled wrong by some previous owner and corrected it.  With those fixes in, the engine runs well except for the pilot truck and trailing truck.  After a couple of minutes of running, the motor started getting warm and gave it a break

Back to the truck issues, they seem to always be catching on the locomotive body.  One solution could be to shim the loco body up a bit to get the clearance, but surely this must work alright on other’s locomotive.  I assume Ives used O42 radius track?  I also compare the wheel spacing to an mth 1134 and it looks close.  It also looks like the MTH engine is higher allowing for more clearance.  Any ideas here would be welcome.

It looks the steam chest casting is not consistent, where it looks lower in the front then the back, even though the top edge looks level.

Thanks!

It appears you are set up on carpet...have you tried it on a flat hard floor or table?  The variations in track level due to the weight of the locomotive on squishy carpet may be problematic.  Can a soft  large diameter spring be added between truck plate and frame?  Not too stiff or you may loose traction.  Otherwise i'd consider just shimming between frame and motor assembly or, more drastic, take a dremel to the bottom of the cylinder.

Thanks for the feedback so far gentlemen.  Even on  a hard surface like shown in my 2nd video, it seems to be an issue.  Looking at pictures of other 1134s on line, many of them (not all) look like they would have a conflict .  Also notice most folks that have videos showing them running look to be using O72.  

I assume this must be a common issue with a known work around or just left to wide radius curves….

An update on this.  I sacrificed the front pilot truck rather than the engine itself, I ended up drilling a new hole in pilot to move to the front axle as forward as far as possible.  I assume the pilot is truck is not original, so it is what it is.  It seems to have worked.  Maybe this is an option for others.

After spending more time looking at references on the internet (Thomas, the site you referenced above was very helpful!), it looks like this style engine should be 1930, with the recessed headlight.  I think the pilot casting maybe from an earlier engine, as other references indicate there should be a more solid pilot (not hollowed out around the steam chest) when viewing from underneath.   I suspect it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch imagining Ives/Lionel to mix and match available parts from the factory to use up inventory.

I think I also have an answer on the lever in the cab, where it’s presence indicated no e-unit.  It was used as a manual switch for reversing the engine.

I would like to buy new side rods for it, any leads on who would sell them would be great.  I thought MTH, but it’s parts  web site doesn’t have much on the Ives engines.

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

I think I also have an answer on the lever in the cab, where it’s presence indicated no e-unit.  It was used as a manual switch for reversing the engine.

I would like to buy new side rods for it, any leads on who would sell them would be great.  I thought MTH, but it’s parts  web site doesn’t have much on the Ives engines.

Correct.  Your locomotive has an "R" unit as seen in the motor pictures.  No cab lever necessary.

I don't think anyone is reproducing the rods currently.  You can try calling Hennings trains and see if they have any left, but I no longer see them listed on their website in the Ives parts.  Hennings was selling off all the old M.E.W. stock for awhile.