Happy Switcher Saturday everyone! I am happily pitch-hitting for our friend Rich Murnane, aka Super Dad, who is taking care of family duties.
This is the creed I think we should follow (for at least today):
We are a bunch of humble, switcher-loving, do-gooders who love all things switcher-related. So, if you have a switcher, have a picture of a switcher or smell like a switcher, post your switcher pictures, here! We are also very deep and humble! In fact we are so humble, we should have a side-topic about how humble we are!
I thought I would provide an update for some of my prewar switcher fleet...see the first picture below.
As I mentioned recently, I have a few Lionel #228 prewar switchers. Here are three of the four. My "Old reliable" #228 is to the left, my just returned (from Harry Henning's train shop) is in the middle and my most recently purchased #228 is on the right, with it's postwar couplers. The repaired loco (middle) now runs very well and very quietly...thank you Harry & Tom Henning.
The newly purchased #228, the one to the right, ran very well, albeit noisy. Last Sunday, I used the slightest bit of Red "N" Tacky grease (first time ever using it) on the gears and a couple of drops of Labelle Oil on the armature shaft...boy, is she super nice and quiet now, too! I am officially a Red "N" Tacky convert.
Before my friend, Dave/Steamer chimes in about my #228 "problem," I need to again point out in my defense that I only have 0.026666666666667% of the 15,000 that Lionel was estimated to have produced for the production run of #228's. This percent has not changed since last week! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Using my newest #228 for the rest of the shots...I really like how this panning shot came out (note that the peg holes on the peg board look like dashes instead of dots/circles), and I caught the rods in the "socially acceptable" rods-down position.
Not bad for a locomotive 77-80 years old!
Let's see those switchers!
Tom