Lionel 604 observation

The 604 observation was waiting to get cleaned and restored for quiet some time. It was dirty and rusty. Initially I made a mistake by not priming this car. The black paint came off in a month due to some electrochemical reaction and I could redo the whole car again. Nevertheless, it is finished now and looks great. The brass fence was very dirty and was cleaned with special Brass polish and polished for several evenings. But it shines again!

The nickel air tank covers were corroded and not easily mended. I could not find new air tank covers at part suppliers and hence I started sanding them. After sanding the rust reappeared in a few days at the cracks in the nickel coating, so I decided to sand, polish, clean and varnish the covers. And up till now that seems to work quiet good. It is time to run a passenger train now!

The last find

The Lionel 653 pre-war hopper is in my opinion one of the nicer cars of the 650 serie. The hopper hatch below the car can be opened and closed with a brass wheel and that raises the play value. Therefore, it is more sought after and less easy to obtain one for a reasonable price. Nevertheless, I managed to find one in France a few weeks ago and this dusty and rusty beauty has finally arrived. Besides two missing journals it is complete. Well there are a few shining new journals waiting for this car, but it better be cleaned, stripped and repainted before those are put on.
Furthermore, the bottom hatch is always open because the brass crank rod can rotate freely, so we have to create some friction somewhere to be able to keep it closed as well.

Easter trains

The Easter holiday is very suited for playing with trains. It is still too cold to stay out all day and too warm to do nothing. Anyway, pleasant for running some trains. It was time to play with the 289E engine, 3 812 gondolas and the 817 caboose. I gathered three 812 gondolas and the caboose over the last years and it was about time to line them up and to run them over the tracks. The 810-serie of freight cars is one size larger than the 650-serie and they fit much better with the 289E than with the smaller 1664, 1668 and 1666. These are better off with 650 serie cars.


Furthermore, the new cleaned Reading boxcar also had to be lined up with the other Reading cars. That looked great. It is so amazing how smooth both engines run. That is the joy of railroading in a nutshell, or in egg-shell for these days.

Zinc pest or plain corrosion?

Recently, I acquired a Lionel 9440 boxcar from 1981. I had been looking for this boxcar for a few years, but I couldn't get a hold on one for a reasonable price. Since, Greenberg estimates its value in between 45-60 US$ in good - excellent condition it is no wonder.









Anyway, I finally got lucky a few weeks ago. The trucks were, however, not black but more off-white. Initially, I was afraid to have purchased a boxcar with trucks that are falling apart due to zinc pest. Fortunately, I mild brush with the dremel brass brush quickly removes the white dusty coating and leaves a beautiful black truck. So, it is just a matter of cleaning time and I will have a nice Reading boxcar, ready to run with my steamer.
So, I reacon that is some kind of corrosion. Additionally the axles have a light rust orange color, which make the corrosion a bit more likely.

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.

Transplanting an E-unit into a 1664

In the summer I bought an old Lionel 1664 steamer for a soft price with some corrosion on the nickel driving rods and an issue with the E-unit. After the steamer crossed the ocean, I soon discovered what the issue was: the steamer only reverses and did not drive forward. At first I cleaned the E-unit drum and checked the contacts, it appeared to work correct in the dissembled state, but as soon as put it all together the damn thing only reversed again... Three times I dissembled it, controlled it with a Volt-meter and thought that it would fine, well every time it proved not to be so. After 2 months, I gave up and started to look for replacement, which I soon found on Ebay. After I assured myself that the second E-unit worked correctly, I removed all the wires and solder-residu from it, cleaned, rewired it with modern wire and soldered back into the 1664. Seeing both E-units connected and step by step disconnecting another wire from the old E-unit and soldering it to the 'new' one, reminded me a bit of heart transplantation. Moreover, the E-unit operates a bit like a hearth in a toy train: controlling the flow of electricity through the motor. The good news is: the patient survived and the steamer enthusiastically runs forward and backward again. All that is left to do is a thorough cleaning job and finding some new shiny nickel drivers and linkers.

Billboard reefer fun

Well it is a holiday, so a good time to run some trains. This time the billboard reefers with soap, pickles, liquor, cigarettes and beer are running down the track. Quiet suitable for the new year!

Making decals for the Lionel 1722 caboose

For the past week I was busy cleaning up a scanned picture of the side of the 1722 caboose. The plan is to paint the side red, to paint the windows and oval symbols yellow with the help of masking tape and to finish it of with a large decal that shows all the black details: rivets, lines, etc. Two decals have to be made: one of the side panel and one of the head side. Since the caboose is symmetrical a double print of both will do for the complete car.
Now, I started to straighten out the scanned picture, to convert it in black and white, to remove all unnecessary details and to repaint the lines and rivets. It is almost done. I finally learned myself into Paint shop Pro, because I needed some tools I never used before.

Priming with Hammerite

Although both the Lionel 812 and Lionel 1722 are clean now, there was lots of rust on them and much of the surface is bare iron in stead of tinplate. Therefore, these cars were prime-painted with a special Hammerite rust preventing paint. The colour is not very appealing, but it is only an undercoat.
The 1722 caboose has some dents that need to be filled with plaster. Furthermore, I am still busy with the top roof. The top-roof will obviously receive a normal primer (for non-ferro metals) when I am finished with it.
The 812 gondola has several rough spots where rust has eaten holes in the side panels, that still need to be filled with plaster. So, there is still much to do.

A new start for the Lionel 812 gondola

Cutting the brass plate and getting the holes in on the right place was quiet some work. The Proxxon SS230 mini-cutter together with the old fashioned drill and the Dremel were handy to get the shape right and the holes in place.
Today, I finished soldering the side boards back on the new base plate. A new gondola is born... Although there is still enough to be done, it is nice to see that it is starting to look like a gondola again.


Some people might argue that buying a second-hand base plate is much easier. Well that is right when you have easy access to those. Here in Europe it is rather difficult to get spare parts, unless you order them in the States. Moreover, these base plates of the 812 are not ubiquitously available in the US and hence it is quiet a challenge to repair this Gondola from the bottom on.

Other people argue that buying another old 812 Gondola can be used as a base plate donor. But what about the other old car then? I prefer to get them all running again!

Rust and holes

The rusting of the Lionel 812 gondola car is more severe than thought previous. Several additional holes have popped up while de-rusting the car with Dremel brush and grinders. The base plate is too weak to be trusted for a restoration project. Therefore, I have bought a nice brass plate (K&S, #253, 0.032 x 4 x 10) and I have made too clean cuts on the edge lines of the base plate. One side was very easily cut, the other side had more iron still in it and proved a little bit tougher. Hard to imagine that this pile of junk will once be a nice car again.

Lionel 610 almost finished

Today, I assembled the Lionel 610 passenger car. I gave it new couplers, but for the rest all the old parts have been cleaned and re-used. The car was an utter wreck without a roof when it arrived and it is nice to see it in this condition now. The only things left to do is getting the decals, repainting the roof once more and getting the light sorted out. The interior lighting works, but the lamp does not shine steady, so somewhere the is a loose connection from ground of the lamp to the wheels.

Lionel 812

This Lionel 812 pre-war gondola just reached me in time. A few additional years of wear would have made it non-restorable: just for parts. The 800 series freight cars have been made with thicker steel sheets than the cheaper 600 and 1600 series. That has saved this car. During my usual cleaning ritual holes dropped in the car floor. The rust has gone completely through. It makes you wonder was must have happened to this car. Had it been lying out in the rain for a couple a years? It sure would explain the significant rusting. I will have to cut out a major part of the car's floor and replace it with brass plate soldered in.
One day this car will shine again, but it can take a few months!

Lionel 1722

Recently I acquired a Lionel 1722 pre-war caboose in poor condition. It is rusting, the paint and lithographed picture are poor. And most strikingly it misses a top roof. The top roof used on this model were pretty daft. There were only windows to the sides and not to the front and back. Since, I didn't have a top roof anyway, I decided to be a bit more creative and make a top roof myself from brass plates.
One of the obstacles to make a nice top roof is the wobbly roof itself. It has been folded up and a break / twist line runs diagonal of the middle section. This needs to be evened out by hammering. The triangular missing part of the roof has been filled with solder and brass.
So, there is plenty to restore on this one. The most difficult part will be restoring the lithograph. The current plan is paint the body red, use masking tape and paint the windows and ovale symbols yellow and then to laser print black decals for all the rivets etc. I never done this before, so it is quiet a challenge.

Spray painting the 610 passenger car

After looking at the webpages of Terry Gibbs, I decided that red body, cream windows, black tanks and trucks and a maroon roof would look the best for my 610 passenger car. So, I started of spray painting. I like to apply double layers; first one layer, then drying in a transparent drying box with a Tyvek window in the sun and after 30 minutes another layer and then 3 days of drying. I used to work with a Bagder airbrush set, but I like the large spray gun better. This handles thicker paints that dry faster and smoother. The disadvantage is that the spray can takes more paint and the paint tube is longer and both need to be cleaned intensely afterwards. Anyway, I like the large spray gun better. So, today I finished with red, cream and black. I just have to do the maroon roof. I will wait for the 1722 to be ready for spray painting, so that I can paint two roofs maroon simultaneously.

Priming the Lionel 610 passenger car

After the cooking pot treatment, there was still some yellow smuck, predominantly on the inside of the passenger car. This was removed with a brass scraper and a brass bruss (dremel tool). The outside of the car can be brushed most easily and the tin really starts to become glossy. The picture shows the car halfway the brushing treatment.
Several metal tabs were already gone or flimpsy. Thin brass strips of a L-profile (3 mm width) were cut and soldered on the inside of the passenger car to replace missing tabs. The excess of solder was sanded off. Some existing trabs were reinforced with solder.
Then the car was thoroughly cleaned with white spirit and primed with a standard light grey primer for non-ferro metals. Finally the car starts to look good again. Now, I only have to choose the final colours...

Stripping paint from pre-war Lionel cars

There are many ways to strip paint from pre-war metal tin toys, including: sand blasting, sanding, immersion in white spirit or ammonia and cooking in detergents. The latter method is by far the easiest. You basically take a big pan, fill it up with water, add some normal detergent without bleaching agents and let it come to boiling temperature. Then you immerse the Lionel parts in the pot and let is stand for at least 30 minutes on low fire and occasionally stir the mixture. Afterwards you take it out, rinse the item with hot water and lightly sand the places where some paint had remained. In the corners usually some paint is left, and I use a brass scraper (brass is softer than tin-plated iron) to gently remove the left-overs.
The photo's show the 610 passenger car in dissembled state, in the cooking pan and out after two rounds of cooking. The trouble with this car was that it had been redecorated and a more modern paint which was less easy to remove. It formed a thick sticky yellowish gel and I sanded it of with hot water and a kitchen sanding sponge.
Good luck and mind that the water is really dark coloured after cooking the first time, do not stain your clothes or kitchen with it.
Regarding the alternative methods:
1) Sand blasting works great, but you need to set up your compressor and blaster / cabinet everytime. If you got a permanent set-up, that is great, but otherwise it is a lot of extra time
2) Ammonia immersion works, but stinks and the exposed metal parts get slowly discoloured
3) Sanding is great and there are nice mini-sanders for the hobby available, but it is a lot of work!

Looking for Lionel

Whenever, we want to see how a pre-war Lionel car exactly looked, web search engines offer often little help. For instance, type in "Lionel 1664" in Google and wait what comes. Usually, the vast majority of the links shown are auction sites (Ebay etc.) with often outdated offerings which can not be retrieved and observed anymore. Followed by a few Frenchmen, Quebecois and a singer named Ritchie. This is rather annoying. Simultaneously, there are much useful websites of train enthusiasts, professionals which offer sharp pictures of Lionel train objects, however, these are not easily found with conventional search engines. Moreover, these sites are usually far from complete, but combining them would improve their coverage. Hence, I thought that it would be a good idea to start with list of links to those "hidden" sites on the web which offer precise pictures and to let it grow organical and indexed on the Lionel number.

Here are the first links:
TG for much useful information of Terry Gibbs

SW for 804, 805, 806, 807, 831, 2653, 902, 1682

GTE for the great Glancy train exhibition that includes: 400E, 400T, 607, 608, 656, 2817, 3814

221
224
262
1666
1688E

Fun with pre-war Lionel trains

It was time to empty the boxes and run some pre-war Lionel trains. It really amazing how smooth these trains run after 70 years. Since, the 1688E is not compatible with the 027 switches I put him aside, its wheel flanges are simply too high. The 1666E is really a smooth runner and was giving the task to run the freight train of wagons of the 650-serie: 655, 652, 651, 659 and 657.
I also managed to deal with the jumpy pilot wheel of the 289E locomotive. The spring metal had been assembled the reverse way. Reversing the spring ensured that the pilot wheel is firmly pressed on the rail and now it does not derail on the switches any more. The 289E headed a passenger train with 1630, 1630 and 1631 coaches.