What spare parts should you have in your parts bin?

I'm extreme but I have diesel power trucks, motors, and complete steam locomotive chassis as spares, along with common stuff like bulbs, traction tires, smoke wicks, and smoke motors.

In addition to the parts you have listed, I also keep horns, bells, pilots, sideframes, motors, brake wheels, pick-up rollers, gears and extra powered trucks on hand. I am always on the lookout for parts, especially K-Line and Williams parts because they are hard to find.

I work on a minimal parts inventory. MTH batteries and diesel traction tires, oil and grease for maintenance. If an engine breaks, I use another engine and order new parts. I have plenty of engines.

Side note. I have several TMCC and DCS remotes.

Massive inventory of electronic circuit boards...

Since I am a Lionel Postwar kind of guy, I keep a good supply of E-unit parts.  Drums and fingers-2 and 4 fingers.  I have found that spending a little more for quality drums and fingers can make repairs much more reliable. I always have smoke unit elements on hand.

I have many postwar style bulbs, tubular track pins, Fastrack pins, traction tires, Lionel Vibromotor drive washers, pickup rollers for Lionel and K-line, spare Fastrack switch lanterns, Fastrack switch light assembly, smoke wick, several bottles of Lionel postwar smoke pellets and much more.

I have oil and grease, that's it. No need to keep parts in supply. If it don't run it goes back  to the mfg. Or it is sold. 

I'm very easy on my trains and rarely have a issue.

Dave

675 boiler fronts, liquid smoke conv kits, green classification jewels, truck C clips to name some!

Mth parts to keep my roster running smooth.

A boatload of MTH parts!

Yes John....with the impending shut down...stock up folks!

Brushes , springs , traction tires ,  bulbs and an assortment of wire coated and cloth wrapped.

I as well as my late Dad keep a supply of picked nut , bolts , washers , spacers , post-war rods , rollers  and other occasion needed this and that for something that's universal .

My experience has been to get parts when something brakes and often pickup a spare or two.    As things broke, I collected which things were more prone to break and tried to keep them in stock.    Coupler springs and rivets are a big example of something probably should be stocked without the learning experience.

The screws are a very good idea.    In todays world most screws are metric so a mix of those based on what is common on your stuff would be a good idea.    I also keep a stock of SAE 2-56 0-72, and 0-80 for things that still use these screws.  

A little bit of everything.

@POTRZBE posted:

A little bit of everything.

No kidding!   This is just the ready storage, tons of stuff on shelves, cabinets, etc.  And I still find I need parts regularly.

Harbor Freight loves to see me coming, I have lots of their plastic storage bins.

As Mackb4 mentioned, Springs and Brushes are #1 for me and I typically buy 100 of each at a time.  That is something I always replace on any prewar motor that I work on.  I have found that the prewar brushes are not carbon and tend to wear into the armatures and I have found that the springs are often not very strong after 80+ years.

Since I deal with prewar items, I also tend to have a supply of drive wheels, leading, and trailing truck wheels as those are often the items needing replacement due to decay/metal rot.  My first and only visit to Hennings hobby shop saw me walking out with $800 of reproduction wheels (glad I bought them, as there was no York in April and I happened to travel from Chicago to Lansdale for work in January before this COVID pandemic struck).  Still have not used the wheels, but that is just because I have been too busy with work.  

With there being fewer and fewer manufacturers of some items, I tend to buy in bulk if I can, as one never knows when a part may disappear forever.  

I also have a supply of junkers, and am on the lookout for more, if I can buy them reasonably.  I once bought a dozen prewar Flyer junkers just for the track trip reverse mechanisms.  A fellow collector came along, after hearing I bought them and wanted to buy 1.  I said no, as I knew I needed almost all of the ones I had bought and would use them all eventually.

NWL

He just wanted to buy one and you had a dozen?

@Tinplate Art posted:

He just wanted to buy one and you had a dozen?

I needed that whole dozen for repairs and knew it when I bought them, which is why I would not part with one.  

NWL

A good supply of fastening hardware, lubrication and cleaner is all I keep on hand. Anything else that I might need is only a few clicks of the keyboard away. 

I have found the MTH Maintenance Kit 60-1365 is a good starting point.

It has a pretty decent assortment of most needed parts like all sizes of traction tires, bulbs including several pre-wired, all smoke unit parts including motors and fan blades, various pick up rollers, 17 sizes of the commonly needed screws, couplers both mechanical and electric, common tether wire harnesses, wireless drawbars, and various speakers. I have added a few Z4K parts such as cooling fan, and a DCS handheld thumbwheel. I think the kit retails for $400 or thereabouts.

Rod

Boy. am I glad you didn't ask what spare parts do you hoarde under your layout. 

I have more parts than I can ever use under the layout.  In Texas, the train shows are fewer and farther between so I always picked up the junk boxes under sales tables.  Probably totals about three cubic feet.  

So many times I actually have the part I need.  

Knowing I have it and where it is located is a problem

never have too many parts but can have too few.

Seems like sharing was something we should have learned in kindergarten. Just saying....

Plenty of Band- Aids..... 

Jagrick; don't ever clean that up; you'll never find anything!

Rod

Traction tires, bulbs, screws, c clips and horseshoe clips, brushes and springs and MTH wireless tethers. 

Anything you might actually need for your particular gauge/scale.

As mentioned on another thread going now, for those with Postwar operating cars, a few sliding shoe assemblies, especially if you don't have a Lionel Riveting Press or a Brakeman Riveter.

Arnold

Assortment of MTH traction tires for Atlas O, Williams, Weaver and MTH  engines, two Williams Universal reverser boards, two MTH smoke units, smoke unit wick, leds, resistors, capacitors, incandescent bulbs lighting and stranded spool wire 22 gauge through 28 gauge.

If you run TMCC a spare receiver board is handy. There's nothing worse than swapping boards between a running train and a non running train and ending up with two non running trains.

@Rod Stewart posted:

Jagrick; don't ever clean that up; you'll never find anything!

Rod

There is sooooooo much truth in that. And if you don't believe it, just try moving to a new home, then go looking for .... anything!

brushes,bulbs,"C" and"E" clips...