Lionel 289E running on the attic

This weekend I decided to make a small oval on the attic floor and run some trains. The Lionel 289E engine still did not run smoothly on the 027 track curves and hence I decided to change the anti-slip tyres and I must say that it still slips a bit, but is running much better.

Zutphen 15 & 16 Oct. scale zero meeting

Last weekend, the Dutch scale zero enthusiasts had their annual meeting in Zutphen. A real surprise for me was to see a large purple MTH box and the 5 CIWL passenger cars. They run on the large oval behind a classic Dutch steamer of the 3700 Class. MTH seems to have convinced the fine scaling zero-2-rail community with it price and quality.

It was a peaceful meeting of model train enthusiasts and various modellers showed their projects. Another large surprise was the "Free to take" (Gratis mee te nemen) text in front an expensive beautiful Dutch steamer, must either be a joke or a mistake.

And there was a three-railers corner. A friendly sales representative of Merkur, ETS and Lehnhardt taught me a bit about those Czech model trains. The large red passenger car for instance is sturdy, but still only 40 Euro, which compares pleasantly with other tin-plate brands.

All in all it was a very pleasant meeting and I am looking forward to the next one.

Final run

The old folding table layout was disassembled today. But before that actually happened the Lionel 289E engine and a small string of passenger cars 607, 603 and 604 made a tribute run over the small layout. Now what is left are photo's, screws, wires and tracks...

The new layout will have a wider radius outer circle, will be really level this time, larger and permanent.

Lionel 607 finished as 603

Today the light bulb wire was connected to the third rail contact and the light lit. The reassembly went really smooth. The decals on the red passenger car body "The Lionel Lines" were water transfers from Papa Les Trains. I did not have any "Pullman" or "603" decals left, so I made my own with "Avery Glas-Dekofolie", which is a locally available brand for making glass window decals on a sticky transparent plastic sheet basis.
The couplers are new and they were necessary, because the rusty 607 wreck came without any.
The highly glossy black roof paint allows me to see all the small dents that I missed when I was filling and sanding the big dents. Well, it ain't 100% smooth, but at least it is much better than how it was.Although some Lionel collectors might argue that I should have used 607 decals and should have used burgundy red inside of bright red, I like it better this way. First of all, it is much better of than how it was and I sure hope to see it running with the 604 and 607 I have already restored and ready.