What have you rescued lately? Or not so lately?

[stebbycentral]

I know that there are a lot of us who rebuild vintage locomotives, either because it's the only way we can afford a model that we always wanted, or just for the enjoyment of it.  So let's start a photo thread for locomotives that we have saved from the junk pile.   There are two rules; 1) It has to have been broken when you got there.  Locomotives that you broke and then fixed don't count.  2) Your efforts regarding the object have to have involved a little more rehabilitation than just simple cleaning and lubrication.

The PA-1 I bought off of eBay for under $100.  It was a Santa Fe Alco 2 motor model and the previous owner had disassembled one of the power trucks for some reason.  Then they couldn't get it back together.  So it literally came to me as parts in a baggie.  I replaced the second power truck with a dummy truck and turned it into a one motor version.  I also repainted it as a Union Pacific locomotive simply because I was too intimidated to try and reproduce the Warbonnet paint scheme.

The GP-7 is a recent acquisition.  I picked it up at a train show where it had a tag on it that said "DOESN'T RUN".  Upon disassembly and inspection I determined the problem was in the reverse unit.  One set of new contact fingers later and I had an operational locomotive.  I also had to modify the rear truck to accept a knuckle coupler.  What do you have to share?

[dougdagrump]

Our last "rescue" was a Bachmann "G" Emmitt Kelly Circus Set, it was given to a friend and I so we were able to find some spare parts and cast others to repair the Basket Case loco and cars w/accessories. Now it comes out for display during Circus week at the museum, on disply now til after the Circus leaves town.

One of these days I'm hoping to find a coach to add to the consist as well, keep watching E-bay etc but no luck so far.

[Penny Trains]

Here's a few of mine:

Up front is a German clockwork loco of unknown manufacture.  It was a serious rust bucket when I got it and sadly the spring was so badly corroded that it has barely enough power to move the loco only.  Behind is a Marx clockwork that runs 10,000 times better which says a lot for Marx since it too was a complete basket case.  Also notice the size disparity between the two O gauge locos.  The German set is closer to S gauge in height.

My favorite basket case was this #8.  Based on the modern stranded wire and the MEW wheels it had when I got it, I can assume that it had been restored at least once before.  However it had been left where battery acid could leak all over it so a complete restoration was needed.  The brass parts had heavy scoring and the acid swelled the wheels so badly that they could no longer turn.  Instead of prewar olive I decided to concoct my own 2 tone blue scheme and did two 35 and a 36 passenegr car to match.  I also added the large hinged pantograph.

Becky

[Plate Rail]

An 8 was also my last restoration.  I stuck with it's original red.  This one had a lot of paint loss and resultant surface rust.   It also requires new wheels...something I haven't been able to source here in the great white north.  The 8 is such a small engine it almost scales out well with the largest of Lionel O gauge tinplate of that era.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4d936b3127cdb9568827a496800000010O08AbNWjls3buQe3bjs/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00009776945620140718025702194.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/?tn=-1548822078

Bruce Webster

[rtraincollector]

Here you go Platerail

[rtraincollector]

They all look great. I'm about ( when I get back to it) repaint a 2037 that I had sand blasted. Just not sure what color leaning towards a custom color instead of the classic black or pink. 

[Grizzly Adams]

I had this old Ameriacn Flyer #13 shell for which I could not find a replacement clockwork motor, so I put a Marx motor in it.  I had to enlarge the opening using files, and modify the steam chest where the rods go

through.  In addition, I had to fabricate new motor mounts on both the motor and the rear of the shell. 

Stripped the old paint, and repainted the shell trying to stay with the style of these early cast iron locos.

Runs like a little sewing machine!  Well, actually, it runs like a Marx!  Looks great with a string of vintage tinplate,

[jwse30]

I bought a pair of Marx Commodore Vanderbilt engines not too long ago. One was in pretty nice shape, the other not so much. Someone had repainted it earlier in its life, and they didn't do too good a job of it. Here's a before shot of the shell right before I stripped it:

I have been gathering New Marx Christmas cars for about a year now, and thought this engine might be just the ticket to pull them. So here's the shiny red repaint:

I recently bought a red NYC tender. If the paint is close enough when I clean it up, I'll use that. Otherwise I am going to repaint a wedge tender to match, possibly doing the coal in white.

J White

[Plate Rail]

There's something so satisfying about returning a ratty old piece of tin to it's former glory.  Taking the lesser examples and customizing can be fun too.  I need to do exactly as Penny did and match up a few tired old 30 series cars to go with the red 8.

Thanks rt for posting my pic....for some reason I can't recall how to post them here, although I know it's dead simple as compared to posting on other forums.  I spent an hour viewing your pics on Shutterfly and left a comment on the pic of NYC #1605.  An awesome collection of photos there!

Bruce Webster

[Penny Trains]

Here's how to post a photo:  Open a free account on a photo sharing site like Shutterfly, Flikr or Photobucket (which is the one I use).  Once you have that, upload the pictures you want to display from your computer to their website.  Copy the "direct link" to your photo from Photobucket (or whatever site you end up using) and then either start a new thread over here or reply to whatever thread you want to post the photos on.  Above the box where you type text, you'll see an icon that looks like a Polaroid photo with a + sign in the bottom right corner.  If you scroll over it with your mouse you'll see "insert image".  Clicking on that icon gives you a box to paste the link you copied from your photo sharing site.  Click on "insert image" and viola!  The pic should appear here in the text box where you want it.  Keep in mind though if you're new to the CTT forum there's a short period where your posts are monitored before being added.

Grizzly: that loco looks fantastic in blue!  Flyer should have used that paint scheme 90 years ago!  I have a similar-bodied electric version but it has no number.  It's black with red and gold trim.

Bruce: I kept going back and forth the whole time I was stripping the paint and fixing my #8 as to wether it would end up blue or that wonderful Macy's red and cream scheme like you did.  In the end I guess the Blue Comet bug got me!    However, I used Tamiya TS-57 blue violet and TS-55 dark blue (which often looks black) so it has a bit of a purplish overtone.

Here's my clockwork Marx Commodore Vanderbilt.  I often pair it with Lionel and Ives 1690-91 passenger cars so I use this tender because of the latch coupler.  I also used repro self-adhesive Lionel CV name plates for the locos flanks so it could match better with the LL tender.  See the second pic for the wedge tender.  But beware!    It also has Lionel Lines markings!    gasp!  

Here's a pic of the other Marx clockwork set I did.  For the tank, I used repro Lionel postwar decals after I polished off the rust and corrosion.  I also made simple aluminum plates for the caboose to give it a bit of a "prewar" look.

These Marx engines are fantastic runners.

Becky

[M. Mitchell Marmel]

In the process of reassembling and decaling a freshly repainted waif 2025 that I rescued along with a Marx 666 some months back (see http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/230061.aspx for a "before" shot)...

And here are the 666es, all sooper shiny from a few weeks back:

Mitch

[wallyworld]

One of the last restorations I did involved two mini-Tonka dump trucks that has to be completely stripped of paint and reproduction decals had to be found. These were exactly and oddly enough the exact size to use as a load on a Marx flat car as the spacing on the cars spring clips was perfectly aligned to the truck axles.

What came as a surprise was the pretty substantial amount of suppliers there are for toy truck restorations

Heres another example of a larger size tinplate truck..this one is Marx...and this project was another complete strip down..

[rtraincollector]

beautiful redo's look great

[wallyworld]

Thanks...I am really enjoying this thread  as there are a lot of great examples .........For a while I was financing new purchases by buying ( carefully ) pretty beat up tin toys and restoring them and then selling them on the Bay...It became a second hobby. I was an American Picker before the first show aired ..lol. I still have another one waiting in the wings, a Marx car transporter..There's a danger in this as I restored a Keystone gas station and ended up liking it so much, I couldnt bear to sell it! So much for my grand strategy.

[Roadmaster]

Here is a link to a restoration I did on a prewar set 138 in maroon and terra cotta.  The 613,613,614 cars were in fair shape with boxes also fair.  The 262 was a basket case not running needing new axle bearings and armature rewind and two wheels with zinc pest.  The 615 was added later and was a parts car needing the bracket holding the roof, light socket and all of the brass trim.  The car body was missing the sheet metal that supports the couplers.  I fabricated the missing sheet metal from flat sheet & soldered it on the car body. https://www.flickr.com/photos/54020227@N07/sets/72157637138049244/