Lionel 289E finally clean

The Lionel 289E is a heirloom item and so I waited a few years more than normal to remove the paint and get it repainted. The various paint layers where more difficult to remove than I previously had experienced. The top-layer was a hand-brushed thick layer of alkyd paint and underneath was the original gun-metal coating. I started with the conventional cooking pot method with old-fashioned near boiling soap-water. That removed most, but not all. Especially from the inside of the engine shell, hardly any paint was lost. People on internet-fora advised me not to sand-blast the item because of the fragile nature of die cast iron. So, I continued with carpet-glue-remover. This produced a thick gray gel of swollen paint that could be scraped off. Then I used the dremel and a brash brush attachment the remove the last paint residues. The cast iron shines and turns a bit dull in a few hours time. It behaves so different than tin-plate. Here is small picture of the shell ready for primer.

Veteranbanen

In the Eastern part of mainland Denmark runs an old steamer on old tracks. It is called veteranbanen (the veteran railroad) and runs between the villages of Bryrup and Vrads. The tracks run through a nice part of Denmark: lakes, hills and forest. On several days during the year a small steamer pulls the three wooden passenger-cars of an old motorised unit named Triangel back and forth between the two villages. The steamer runs very smooth and it is really a pleasure to make the trip.