Model Trains

[joeqsmith]

Looks like there are places selling brush and spring kits for it.  Nothing for bearings.  There is a used, untested motor assembly for one.  Bearings may be in just as poor conditions.   

I had a mixture of Lionel, American Flyer and Marx.  Some were tinplate, tinplate and plastic, others plastic.  As a kid, we would drag race them, play smash up derby, pull contests.   I blame TV for aiding in my lack of judgement.  Then again, I did have a lot of fun with them.   

Here are a few of this engine for less than $30 with shipping:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166468063702
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266540159396
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276196210593

Maybe they will reach $100. 

I had an engine that took some sort of liquid and would blow smoke and had a speaker in the tinder.  I think that was a Lionel.  Guessing plastic as it must have been in very poor condition and was pitched after losing too many battles.   

   

[joeqsmith]

When I was in high school, my father took me to someone who built
a 1/4 scale steam engine in his garage.  He had two flat cars with seats
and a 12" wide track in his back yard for his grandchildren to ride in.

Nice.  There was a small gauge train where I grew up that gave rides to the public.  I think it was part of a business.  I remember getting to ride it but it's long gone.  Too bad.

[andre_teprom]

I used to be big into model trains, and HO scale was my jam. Spent countless hours building layouts and tinkering with tiny details.

[tggzzz]

When I was in high school, my father took me to someone who built
a 1/4 scale steam engine in his garage.  He had two flat cars with seats
and a 12" wide track in his back yard for his grandchildren to ride in.

Nice.  There was a small gauge train where I grew up that gave rides to the public.  I think it was part of a business.  I remember getting to ride it but it's long gone.  Too bad.

15" gauge, 13.5 miles long?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Railway
https://www.rhdr.org.uk/

[joeqsmith]

When I was in high school, my father took me to someone who built
a 1/4 scale steam engine in his garage.  He had two flat cars with seats
and a 12" wide track in his back yard for his grandchildren to ride in.

Nice.  There was a small gauge train where I grew up that gave rides to the public.  I think it was part of a business.  I remember getting to ride it but it's long gone.  Too bad.

15" gauge, 13.5 miles long?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Railway
https://www.rhdr.org.uk/

I would have been maybe 5 years old and the tracks seemed huge.  So no idea on the gauge but I think it looked something like a modern diesel. 

Appears I had painted this engine at least three times.   Black and red.  Black and white.  Some sort of brown....      Shown with what is left of the original black after chemical stripping all the layers. 

***
Also shown after primer.

[tggzzz]

When I was in high school, my father took me to someone who built
a 1/4 scale steam engine in his garage.  He had two flat cars with seats
and a 12" wide track in his back yard for his grandchildren to ride in.

Nice.  There was a small gauge train where I grew up that gave rides to the public.  I think it was part of a business.  I remember getting to ride it but it's long gone.  Too bad.

15" gauge, 13.5 miles long?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Railway
https://www.rhdr.org.uk/

I would have been maybe 5 years old and the tracks seemed huge.  So no idea on the gauge but I think it looked something like a modern diesel. 

This one scared my 3yo when it drew away from the platform.

[joeqsmith]

Very nice looking setup.  I wonder now days if you could buy a kit to build one.  My grandfather used to build some stationary hot air and steam engines for a hobby.  He had made a few locomotives but I think they were smaller.   He would make the parts from wood, then make sand castings of them.  Thinking a bit of a lost art today.

I used some semi-gloss VHT paint on it.  The camera flash makes it look way more glossy than it is.  I noticed when stripping the paint that there was a flaw in the casting.  That's not paint stuffed in there but metal.  The experts may be able to figure out when it was made by this.   

[andy3055]

Mine were mostly O gauge.  I had I think an old S gauge that was a steam bullet.  Similar to this one,  but from what I remember it was a dull silver painted finish. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235307468024

I tore one of my engines apart.  This is a Marx 999.  The wheel bearings are all shot.  My childhood custom paint job was in poor condition, not just that I had no skills to be painting at that age, but it had a lot of chips and such.  Chemical stripper....   

I have no idea on the age.  I didn't think I could put a price on my childhood memories, but this site suggest the very common one is worth about $20.    

https://dfarq.homeip.net/marx-999-locomotive-variations/

That IS old alright!

[andy3055]

Very nice looking setup.  I wonder now days if you could buy a kit to build one.  My grandfather used to build some stationary hot air and steam engines for a hobby.  He had made a few locomotives but I think they were smaller.   He would make the parts from wood, then make sand castings of them.  Thinking a bit of a lost art today.

I used some semi-gloss VHT paint on it.  The camera flash makes it look way more glossy than it is.  I noticed when stripping the paint that there was a flaw in the casting.  That's not paint stuffed in there but metal.  The experts may be able to figure out when it was made by this.

That is a great paint job. What are going to do about the motor and the rest of the drive train?

[andy3055]

My HO layout is only 40-60% complete.

[joeqsmith]

Your setup is way nicer than anything I ever had.  My layout sat on top of three discarded doors (from a house), sitting on cinder blocks.   

That is a great paint job. What are going to do about the motor and the rest of the drive train?

It's also missing the number plate and head lamp lens in the front of the engine.  The drive wheel gears don't appear too worn but the larger one seems a bit sloppy.  The drive axles don't have any groves that I can detect with my thumbnail.  It seems the biggest problem is the bearings and a broken stud.  I may try and find another 999 as a donor that has the missing parts and gamble on it having better bearings and gearing.  I may get lucky and find one that wasn't abused as much as mine.    The bearings may have been a common size used in clocks.  Beyond that, I think machining new ones may be the only other option.   

I think all that paint saved the bell from rusting as the nickle looks new.     I took some steel wool to the wires and straightened the bends. 

[NiHaoMike]

Quinn Dunki is working on one powered by an actual miniature steam engine.

[andy3055]

Quinn Dunki is working on one powered by an actual miniature steam engine.

I hope you will find the parts for this. Like you said, you can always turn out the bearings.  But the small gears might be a challenge.

[joeqsmith]

Looks like the others I pointed out all sold cheap.  At least I'm destroying a national treasure.   

The parts engine arrived.  It looks like it sat in a damp area much of it's later years.   Bearings and gearing were tight, so I tore it all apart, cleaned and combined the two motors using the best parts with fresh grease and oil.    Ran it on the bench supply for a few minutes.  Runs smooth.   Need to machine up some screws to hold it together.   

Looks too nice compared to the other parts.  It's out of place. 

[andy3055]

Post a clip when it is all done.

[joeqsmith]

To make a clip of it running, I would need to get some track.  Mine is all in very rough condition.  Rust, bent rails, missing ties....   It's been sitting on the fireplace mantle for several years.  Surprised my wife hasn't tossed it yet as it's such an eye sore.     How rough?  Here is my American Flyer decoupler.     

[andy3055]

More paint jobs.

[joeqsmith]

    

I machined up two brass screws to hold it together and brushed them with some black.  I'm not sure what they looked like originally but mine had two wood screws with big, fat heads jammed in it from my youth.   

[andy3055]

Interesting design with the drive gear exposed. Is the a 2-4-0 or 2-4-2?

[joeqsmith]

That's a 2-4-2.  The one behind is another Marx, 4-6-2.  Mechanically, it is in good shape but cosmetically, I give it a 3 out of 10.  I believe my plastic Lionel that had the smoke and sound was a 2-4-2 as well.  I also has a couple of Lionel small pushers, a hand car, and a large diesel.  None of them survived my youth.   Hand car was pretty cool as it had a rubber man that went up and down as the car moved along.   

The diesel was very similar to this one:
https://picclick.com/Lionel-O-Scale-Santa-Fe-ATSF-8010-Switcher-394995016808.html#&gid=1&pid=1

I still have a few metal-plastic and plastic cars but most of the ones that survived are the old tin plate.   

[andy3055]

It is going to take a lot of efforts to get them into a decent looking setup. You must be retired 

[joeqsmith]

Not retired yet.    Better view of the two Marx engines.  Switch would normally have been red but shown with gray primer.  This one still works but is in very rough condition.   

[andy3055]

You should watch this channel:
https://m.youtube.com/@classicmodeltrains

[EEVblog]

I have done some other model railways videos:

[joeqsmith]

You should watch this channel:
https://m.youtube.com/@classicmodeltrains

Checked out some of his videos. 

This was a bad weekend for my old train.   I ended up rewinding the motor in the 999 Marx.  The motor was making poor power and drawing a lot of current.  I should have taken some photos.  They did not use tape around the laminates and the fiber insulators allowed the wire to directly contact the sharp corners.  Over the years it cut through the mag wire's insulation and shorted to the frame.    I used tape when I rewound it.   

So I had the original stator that wasn't shorted.  Of course it is riveted to the plate but one stud was broke.  So I took the dremel and was going to cut out the bad stud and machine a new one.  Of course, idiot cuts the stator.  So ground out the rivets then realized the two rivets holding the stator are different.   So I ended up saving the studs from the donor motor and re-riveting them to the frame.   I unwound the original stator after I damaged it and saw how the fiber plates were a much better design.   Looks like they had a quality issue. 

Now when I grab the drive wheels, I can feel it makes some really good torque.   Lot of work to save my boyhood engine that is only worth about $10.