Picked this up at the Muncie, Indiana show this past weekend. Nice little Lionel prewar 252 electric set for a keen price. The paint was grundgy with nicotine tar and grime, the black part of the engine frame was bent, but even with most of the insulation missing off the original wiring, she ran. I rewired the motor, straightened the frame and buffed out the paint. Still need to get a light bulb for it and the #58 street light(its burnt out) that were in the box with the set. I am also going to find a nice Type A transformer to go with it. The original box is a bit tattered but its still with us. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Nice pickup! I went to a show at the Museum of Transportation in St Louis over the weekend. Picked up these beauties for a nice price. The parts were in a bag for 5 bucks but he threw them in when I bought the train depot.
Great find! Congratulations!
A number 52 is a reasonable lamp type for it.
Bob Nelson
I will get a duplicate of whats in it now as I like that style, along with a good bulb for the 252 electric. I also am picking up a couple Bassett Lowke live steamers. One in gauge O thats on its way to me now, and another one in a couple weeks hopefully.
Here is one of the Bassett Lowke live steamers I have bought, should arrive later this week or early next week.
Fantastic finds!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
NICE!
Regards, Roy
Mike, I may be stating the obvious, or just repeating common knowledge, but did you know that boy on the cover of the pre-war set box is Lawrence Cowan, the son of Joshua Lionel Cowan? It's true!
Yep, I knew that! Between books and getting to meet Dick Kuhn years ago at York when I went as a guest of Mr Harmon. I was his repair tech for many years till I moved away and the shop closed up. I was into mostly late prewar at that time. Now I like the earlier prewar stuff, but mostly UK style now. The little 252 set was sort of an impulse buy. But it looks great running around my layout!
Great find!!!!
Is the live steamer operable???
Banks, Proud member of the OTTS TCA 12-67310
Yes, very much operational and even if it needed work, I am in a live steam group locally(mostly gauge 1/G scale) and we have a gentleman that can do boiler work if need be.
some nice finds indeed!
Dave
It's a TOY, A child's PLAYTHING!!! (Woody from Toy Story)
Here is a pic of the steamer with the burners lit on my test blocks, and another pic of her sitting at my Marx Girard depot on 42" radius 027 profile track. I did run her a bit today, but I have an unlevel portion of the layout that made things a bit of a nail biter. She would go to fast on one end and nearly stall at the other. Live steamers prefer a nice level layout when you run with manual control vs RC control, be they gauge 0 or 1. This model has a 3 wick style burner, so I can run with just 2 lighted to cut down on the steam production(the Enterprise model lacks any type of throttle), so load or number of wicks lighted controls the speed. Other live steamers from Bassett Lowke have a throttle, but not all run as well as the Enterprise. With 3 or 4 bogie coaches, she can run for nearly 1 hour on one boiler fill of water and fuel. I will work on leveling the layout surface this week. Mike
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