Lionel 812 finished

On Friday the new parts that I needed to finish the 812 gondola arrived: new couplers, a brass brakewheel and new horseshoe clips to mount the trucks. This evening I finished the gondola. Really a beauty again and so different than the rusted wreck I bought on Ebay. It was a little bit more work than planned, due to the rusted base plate that was so badly affected that the holes could not be filled easily and a new brass plate was used. A good example of transforming trash into treasure. It is not economical (because it is much cheaper overall to buy a car in good condition), but it is very rewarding to feel you saved an old toy train from oblivion.
Now, I first want to finish the 1722 and then choose a new trashure project.

Removing corrosion from brass plates

The Lionel 812 was in poor condition when it arrived. The tin plate was corroded on many places. In one place the corroded tin-plate contacted the brass plate directly and made it turn dark brown (second plate from the left on the photo). Although I do not understand the chemistry completely, but then the exact composition of the tin-plate and the brass are also unknown, it is clear that the brass was affected quiet strongly. I tried to clean this dark-brown brass with a household brass cleaner, metal polish, washing and basically it did not work. Only carefull light sanding did the trick and got the brass back in original luster. I am still sanding and polishing, but it alreday looks much better.
The photo's on the left show the plates when I started cleaning and on the right how they are now.