Wiring a Lionel 151 Semaphore

The Lionel 151 semaphore is a postwar accessory that is usually wired with a Lionel 153 contactor. This will lower the semaphore for a few seconds when a train passes and then it flips back. However, in case you do not have such a contactor, you need to think of something else. This took me a while. But I found that the Finder 26.01 impulse relay is well suited to do the job.

For the moment I use a contact switch to the impulse relay, but I am busy to place two reed contacts between the rails to switch the relay.

The first tests with the reed contacts were good. I just have to form two wooden blocks to position them on the correct height, so that they are in close proximity to the magnets under the engines.

The only downside of the Lionel 151 semaphore is the large amount of current that runs through its electromagnetic coil to engage the signal arm downwards. It does sound like something is getting toasted. True old-fashioned tin-plate! Luckily it doesn't smell toasted.

Lionel 814 boxcar restored

Here it is, a shining restored 814 Lionel boxcar, finally finished. It involved an intensive cleaning procedure. First thick layers of brown and black children paint were removed with hot water. Then the spot-rusted yellow paint was removed by boiling it a little longer and then the bare metal was sanded to remove years of steady corrosion. Then the nickel and brass items were cleaned and polished. Here the black grime was so thick that we could not call it patina any longer.
Well, I am happy to show the result and I hooked up to Merkur 9406 closed goods wagon (as we would like to name a boxcar) to compare both models

Red Merkur 9406 boxcar and yellow Lionel 814 boxcar

The Lionel 814 is prewar and it has nickel and brass shining details. It is produced from tin-plate and although this is a more rugged pre-war Lionel car (in comparison to the 650 and 1680 series), it still feels flimsy in comparison to the Merkur boxcar. The Merkur wagon is contemporary and is less shiny but it is made from much thicker steel plate. It feels and handles like a true railroad carriage. The paint is heavy duty power-coated with silk screen printed details. In case of an accident, I would reckon the Lionel car ends up being dented and the Merkur car just leaves a crater in your flooring and survives unscratched.

Freight train composed of Lionel and Merkur cars

Line up of Lionel and Merkur trains

Pre-war Lionel Lamp post

Whenever you buy a box full of old Lionel junk, there is a fair chance that you will be treated with a pre-war Lionel lamp post. The lamp post itself is nice. It has a sleek design and it is made out of cast iron with off-white plastic cap.The reason why you will get it for free in Europe is that the bajonet light bulbs have died and these need to be sourced from over the pond. Nobody bothers, so basically you get it for free.

Yesterday, one of my original lamp posts died and I checked to see that the bajonet light bulb had experienced some kind of mercury explosion inside. Well, that is ready for the separate collection of household chemicals.

 To rescue the lamp post, I removed the original socket holder and soldered a new E5.5 socket holder inside. This is for small light bulbs that are ubiquitous in Europe, so I can enjoy my lamp post for many years to come.

Bridge and Light tower

Yesterday, I finished with cutting the X-beams for the bridge and nailing them down. Today, I filled a few gaps with wood filler and sanded the lot. So now the Ogle Winston Link Bridge is finished in crude. Guess I will have to contemplate the colours now.

Additionally, I soldered a few connecting wires to my Light Tower. For some reason I collected two rotating beacons; one metal of Lionel and one plastic from Marx. Both operate crappy; the light makes the beacon spin in a very uneven manner. So , I decided some time ago, to transform the Marx tower into a light tower. I used some scrap wood, paint, wires, sockets and lights and the first result is quiet all right. Looks a bit camp and that is just fine with me. Imagine that the core wooden barrel was a basket in which thin wooden cooking sticks were sold.

Towards a permanent layout

During the holiday season I build the benchwork for a permanent layout in the attic. The layout will have two levels; the lower level with Märklin h0 scale trains and the upper level with Lionel trains. Here are some pictures of the construction.

The new long Merkur coach was used to test the clearance of the new layout. The three rail 0 scale layout has a U shape with a bridge between both extremities. Merkur rails with roughly a 042 radius were used for the outer circle and the side track. But I will probably use Lionel 027 tubular tracks for the freight yard on the middle of the table. Well, there is still plenty to do.

Sunny autumn afternoon

With the lovely sunny autumn weather, I felt obliged to get outside and run the new diner coach. It ran great. The Merkur coaches with Bing couplers couple easy with pre-war Lionel trains with latch couplers, but pre-war Lionel is a bit under scale as compared to the modern Merkur tin-plate toy trains. But the modern MTH engines are a better size match and they also let the coaches run smoothly.

A string of colourful happiness

Pre-war Lionel trains look kind of small compared to these
huge Merkur coaches.

It was an honour

Living in this corner of the world and playing with American toy trains that run on 3 tracks, means that other 'conventional' toy train enthusiasts think of you as the one expert in all Lionellish things that are around. This can be funny when some folks think that Marx trains are extremely rare, and sometimes annoying when folks try to push you a Lionel car in poor condition for far too much cash. But this last month, I had one encounter, that I will remember and cherish.
I was kindly asked to help a 89 year old to run his toy train. I went to his house equipped with some modern rails and transformer and I was amazed to find what he got. The original Lionel catalog of 1938, a Lionel junior train set with 1690, 1690 and 1691 passenger cars and the concomitant freight set: 1680 Sunoco tank car, 1679 Baby Ruth box car and the 1682 caboose. He showed me the original receipt of purchase back in 1938, from a toy shop in 'de Kalverstraat' that does no longer exist. To be frank it was half a month of house rent back in those days. So it was a great gift. And this gift lasted for ever. Can you even imagine that current toys will last this long?
We set up the rails on a large oval table and I noticed that he had trouble with his fine hand co-ordinations, so I could understand better, why he needed some help. When the tracks were laid, we took his engine, cleaned it, lubricated it and it just run. I noticed that the commutator plates were dirty and the brushes got a bit hot, but is worked just fine. I listened to his long life story. Impressive. He was very happy to run his own train again. So much joy in the eyes of an elderly person, who is hindered by his own body to play with his own toys from his childhood again and what a joy to see such an old Lionel train running again indeed.

Here is the prove that Lionel did make transformers for the European market before WOII.

Lazy claw coupler fix

Some modern Lionel train cars have bad claw couplers. They simply open all the time, since the spring that should keep the claw closed has worn out. I had two of them. One on a Lionel 9130 B&O Quad hopper car from 1971 and one on a 19736 Pennsylvania N5C Porthole Caboose from 1997. The coupler on the caboose is such a full metal thing that makes any repair difficult. I even used to run this car backwards to avoid uncoupling.

The Lionel 19736 caboose with a tiny (just visible) rubber band over its coupler.

With the claw coupler fixed of the B&O quad hopper, it is finally possible to run string of them.

Nevertheless, two small rubber bands made all the difference. These rubber bands are used by dentists to put tension on brackets and I received two bags of 100 bands, from the glorious brand named Rabbit, made in Mexico.The couplers now only open when the tab is pressed down and not on every possible moment the car feels like it.Three hurrays for Rabbit rubber bands.

Lionel 607

It is more than two and a half years ago, since I choose to test my new sand blaster on a old rusty Lionel 607 passenger car, which was scooped up from Ebay some 3 years ago. Since then I derusted, sanded and disassembled the passenger car slowly, working occasionally on it. But now that I got my new work shed sorted, it was the first project to finish, from the long list of restorations that still wait for my attention.
After all the paint was removed from the body, it became apparent that this passenger car must have been composed from two non identical halves. One tin-plate side panel with rivets and one smooth. Also at the corners of the car, smoothened solder residues were visible. So, this is a car with some history that already received a major renovation in the past and is now up for its second rejuvenation. On the head ends of the car the guiding rails for the couplers were broken off. So, I fixed this with 1 mm brass wire and some very thin brass plate cuttings. I soldered the lot in position, sanded it and used some solder and plaster to smoothen the edges and sanded the lot again.
The roof had 3 dents, which were crudely filled with solder and then smoothened with filler, sanded, smoothened with filler and sanded again.
Today was a hot day and I could spray paint primer paint on it. And I must say that I am quiet happy with the result; a smooth roof and nice car body.
Working with this passenger car, you start to wonder what this car must have experienced since the twenties of the last century. Nevertheless, its future looks bright again; it will return in toy train service soon.

Lionel 1677

Today, a beautiful pre-war gondola arrived. It is the green Lionel 1677 that was produced from 1933-1935. A long lithographed car that was part of entry level start sets of that time. Some other cars of the same serie, like the 1679 Baby ruth box cars, the 1680 Sunoco and Shell tank cars and 1682 Caboose were much more common. The only exception is the truely rare 1678 Stock car of the same serie. Personally this green gondola is a outstanding beauty.

Long trains run by

This weekend we played with the trains and made some large consists and saw how the MTH switcher pulled it easily.
The house / crossing bell cover is progressing slowly as well, made some windows and doors. At last I got a new toy to play with: a sandblaster. So, I had to try it on an old pre-war passenger car. The first blast was not bad. Only thing left to do is to clean the garden, because everwhere lies fine white sand... Next time better and perhaps also smarter.