Restoring a Lionel M-10000 Streamliner 12/27/19- The Motor Runs!

Looks nice!  I would definitely re-think restoring them.  Re-painting them would diminish the value greatly.  I would do the electrical and mechanical work necessary and call it a day.  The paint on the bodies of the cars and loco look better than anything i've seen out there lately.  That set needs 072 track to run properly.  I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to purchase a set as nice as that.

Thanks George. The original track shown is 072. I have to clean it but it looks like it's all there.

As I said re-painting is a long way (probably never), off.  Once the 70-80 years of grime is gone I'm sure they will look better.

Bob

Congratulations on a nice set.  It's a plus for me to know the history of old trains that I acquire.  Hope it gets some tree time.

Fendermain

Great find for you Bob! I look forward to the restoration process. 

Andy

Thanks Fendermain and Andy.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the M-10000 requires O72 curves, does it not ?

Yes it does Dan. Lionel produced 072 track specifically for this set.

Way too nice to restore. Great find

Bob, That set does look great!  I’m sure once you clean it up, refurbish the motor, and lube it up, you will have a great looking set!

fantastic find. Please don't touch those bodies. They look way to good to repaint.

Bob,  I have the same that I acquired after someone, long ago, had very poorly repainted a different color.  Had to strip and repaint the aluminum color.  The decals were something else, and will never be as nice as original stamp lettering.  As others stated, I would not encourage a repaint of the M10000.  The original finish is better than many others I have seen, and the lettering shown is really nice.  Yes, a good, careful, cleaning and mechanical/electrical service would be for the better.  But, to ever repaint and have a loss of original lettering would be too detrimental.  Just my opinion, and congrats on a great looking set, sir!! 

Jesse   TCA  12-68275

So I have obviously struck a nerve. 

Painting is now officially off the table 👍

I agree with all of you anyway. They do look nice the way they are. 

Thanks for all the comments.

More to come as I head down this path.

Bob

Steamer posted:

fantastic find. Please don't touch those bodies. They look way to good to repaint.

I'll second that.  I see no need at all for repainting, but if it were mine, I'd certainly replace the center-rail pickup shoes.

The shoes are on my list. Have to source the parts.

Bob,

 I'm late to your interesting topic. I would agree on what most or all have said, keep the original paint/lettering. I never even saw an M-10000 in person! Looking forward to learning more on this unique set and seeing its comeback. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. 

Tom 

Thanks Tom. Same to you and yours. 

you have a rare set there, if you look closely under the motor the word gauge is spelled wrong

RSJB18 posted:

The shoes are on my list. Have to source the parts.

I think Jeff Kane aka The Train Tender has the shoes. 

Forest

Super nice set, Bob.  Was wondering, what colors did ja have in mind?  Something like this...?     

can you imagine the pride the artist felt when they finished and stood back and looked over their work of art?

Anyone familiar with this locos? Do they tend to be good runners or because they were an early design, did they overheat, derail, etc.?

Tom 

RSJB18, Bob, great find and until a few weeks ago I had never seen one of those older M10000 sets run, and they do require 072 curves. A good friend of mine, Charles Hearn from Nashville, brought his re-painted and re-wired with TMCC electronics, M10000 over to run on my layout. It’s a fun to run set, colorful, fast and memorable. There are many folks that can re-paint and replace the wiring with the newer electronics, although it’s really your choice. Simply re-wiring and general maintenance is all that’s necessary. Thank you for starting this nice thread, of a great model train from yesteryear. Happy Thanksgiving and of enjoying running your trains on your nice railroad. Enjoy the Holidays.

TedW posted:

Super nice set, Bob.  Was wondering, what colors did ja have in mind?  Something like this...?     

HEE HEE

Bob, LOL, LOL

Gary- sharp eye there. I probably looked at that label a dozen times and never saw that.

Anybody know if this typo was common?

Dave- Notice how its OK to re-paint a classic Road Runner but not a classic toy

Forest- thanks for the info. I will give them a call.

Larry- that's a nice looking set your friend has. As stated previously, I will keep this one original. Just cleaning and re-wiring.

Tom- I would think they ran well. It's a very simple motor and I can't see 072 curves putting much stress on the wheels. There certainly is plenty of space under the shell to dissipate heat.

Hopefully I can get started on the motor this weekend. I want to start cleaning the track too. I'm going to see how a light shot with a fine wire wheel does. I'm not looking to restore it to shiny new, just clean and electrically sound.

Bob

Bob;

You??? O-72??? Be still my heart   

Apples55 posted:

Bob;

You??? O-72??? Be still my heart   

Yes Paul......it's true.

I'm going to see what it feels like not to make a hard left turn and sit back a cruise through the curves instead

besides I gotta do something with that track you sent me

Bob, if you "struck a nerve" with the idea of repainting these, I think it is because these are pre-war pieces that are actually in pretty good shape visually given their age. The grading standards for pre-war pieces are after all, a little more forgiving.

Hey, I do a lot of repainting as you know, but I'm always looking for either beaters or very common items made in larger production runs that will not likely ever increase substantially in value. Early on, back in the hobby, I saw some terrible repaints like the ones above, and some really lousy decal jobs too. Those almost made me reconsider doing repaints myself. But then I realized, Hey, I'm an artist... I can do a good job at this. If I'm not going to do a good job, then I wouldn't do it at all. The bad repaint jobs I saw ended up being an inspiration for me to excel.

Anyways, I don't know how many of these M10000's were originally produced, and even more importantly, how many have survived all these years, and are in the condition as the ones you have are in. Personally, visually I'd leave them be outside of cleaning them up.

But then again, it is a personal decision. I've told the story here of how some years ago at YORK, some guy was giving me grief that ALL Lionel trains are valuable collectibles worth money. Given that reasoning, I offered him a Scout gondola for $500.00 and he replied "that isn't worth more than $5-$10." That didn't sound like a valuable collectible to me. Now that I've repainted a few of them, maybe now, they are valuable collectibles .

Yeah, along with SP type cabooses.

texastrain posted:

Bob,  I have the same that I acquired after someone, long ago, had very poorly repainted a different color.  Had to strip and repaint the aluminum color.  The decals were something else, and will never be as nice as original stamp lettering.  As others stated, I would not encourage a repaint of the M10000.  The original finish is better than many others I have seen, and the lettering shown is really nice.  Yes, a good, careful, cleaning and mechanical/electrical service would be for the better.  But, to ever repaint and have a loss of original lettering would be too detrimental.  Just my opinion, and congrats on a great looking set, sir!! 

Jesse   TCA  12-68275

Restore with rubberstamps for best affect. I have done several sets

RSJB18 posted:

Gary- sharp eye there. I probably looked at that label a dozen times and never saw that.

Anybody know if this typo was common?

Dave- Notice how its OK to re-paint a classic Road Runner but not a classic toy

Forest- thanks for the info. I will give them a call.

Larry- that's a nice looking set your friend has. As stated previously, I will keep this one original. Just cleaning and re-wiring.

Tom- I would think they ran well. It's a very simple motor and I can't see 072 curves putting much stress on the wheels. There certainly is plenty of space under the shell to dissipate heat.

Hopefully I can get started on the motor this weekend. I want to start cleaning the track too. I'm going to see how a light shot with a fine wire wheel does. I'm not looking to restore it to shiny new, just clean and electrically sound.

Bob

 

My understanding that this mis-spelled plate appears most often on the 752, but is out there. Not an especially valuable error but you think that the plate made to produce that had to go through several hands at least and at on point probably detected but decided to run with it due to the cost of just throwing away.

Brianel and Jagrick- thanks for the responses. Part of the fun of this hobby is learning about its history as you go.

Bob

I agree 100%!! the history and how is fascinating, I just wish there were more photos of the inner workings of the Lionel factory from the prewar times of the day to day operations

george posted:

Looks nice!  I would definitely re-think restoring them.  Re-painting them would diminish the value greatly.  I would do the electrical and mechanical work necessary and call it a day.  The paint on the bodies of the cars and loco look better than anything i've seen out there lately.  

One more vote for leaving them as is. I'm no authority on these things, but just based on the pictures I agree with George and all the rest voicing concern about restoration. Cosmetically, they look fantastic considering their age. Painting them would ruin their value, history and esthetics (being that philosophy dealing with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty, and taste). (Wow!)  Much of their beauty can be attributed to their age and authenticity. Gently clean them and they'd be good to go, IMHO. If you want a shiny new-looking set, Lionel and MTH have made those in the last number of years.

Bob,  My restored M10000 has the same misspelled plate on bottom.  from what I have been able to research, the misspelled plate is attributed only to the 1934 production.  There may be information stating otherwise, but all I find say year of 1934 only.  A really great looking set you have there, again, congrats, sir.  And best of a Thanksgiving to you and yours.  IMHO, those of us in the O gauge hobby, with all it's history and intrigue, have much to be thankful for.

Jesse   TCA 

Hoping to find the time to restore the bad older paint job on my Prewar 636W.  It runs really good, just not looking as well as it should.  But, that is one of the great things about our hobby!

Jesse   TCA

One of my favorite little sets!! 3 variations. yellow brown with more red in brown and tops of vestibules painted, yellow brown with browner color and all yellow vestibules and two tone green DSS

A few years ago, I saw a photo of an M10000 that my grandfather had.  I decided to get one.  I grabbed the first one I saw on ebay and it was in rough shape.  Hennings got it running well, but the cosmetics are still wanting.  Saw a nicer one and ended up getting that too.  They are good runners on O72 track.  Also run well on Gargraves track on curves as small as O68.  Has a bit of a problem with Gargraves switches so I installed a jumper from one of the vestibules to the engine.

The ones in brown and yellow like the prototype were more popular, but the aluminum ones can be found.  I like the aluminum ones better.  From the photos, it looks like you have a nice example Bob.  I don’t see any zincpest and the cosmetics are decent enough.

Here’s a few pics of my Granddad’s and one of mine.

Thanks Jesse. 1934? WOW that's a long time ago!

Same to you and yours.

Here is my fantasy restoration.

It's a heavy train but it runs. Just need to take it easy on her.

George

Milwaukee Road!   Great looking consist, George!     Hmmmmmm……..    Perhaps find another beater to fix-up... paint red.... use to pull the remake of the Rail Chief articulated cars?

Great topic post this is!

Jesse   TCA