Free Trains-Out of the Blue!

[Jumijo]

My wife is a nurse in a hospital OR, and last Sunday evening she tookover one half of a sick colleague's shift. Well as a thank you, the guy, an older gent who knows the kids and I have trains gave use two huge boxes of O27 trains and equipment! One box contained an entire NYC Flyer set from 1994 plus several postwar cars from his youth (they look brand new), extra track, a couple of remote switches, and an extra tender with a speaker in it.

The other box contained several more cars, bags of lichen, ground foam and trees, telephone poles, a Marx rotating beacon tower, an operating semaphore, an operating "wig wag" signal, and several Plasticville and Lionel buildings, a copy of The Lionel Train Book, and a transformer. There might well be other stuff I didn't see.

I'm speechless. There's easily a couple hundred dollar's worth of train equipment in those two boxes. I can't get over someone being that generous!

Jim

[Anonymous]

Wow! Good find Jim!

Unfortunatly that has nevr happened t o me!

[ChiefEagles]

GREAT [:D]

[1688torpedo]

That was sure some thank you. You lucked out on this find Jim.[:)]...............Keith

[Jumijo]

I sure did luck out! I still can't get over it. I intend to sit down tonight and write the guy a very sincere thank you card on behalf of the kids. It was a very generous thing he did. Ever since he heard my wife telling her co-workers about how much the kids love their Lionels, he's been very keen to tell her about train stores and upcoming shows in our area. There are a lot of nice people in this hobby.

As an aside, the tender with the speaker in it intrigues me. It's missing its only pickup roller and has a red wire coming out of the front through a small hole. I don't know if it goes to the missing pickup or connects to a loco. I'll get the part number off of it tonight and do some research. I wonder if it's a Sounds of Steam tender?

Jim

[1688torpedo]

Hello Jim ! That is a sound of steam tender you've got and it Probably belongs to one of the following steam engines : 8124,8204,8304,8800,or, one of the smaller Columbia style engines (2-4-2 wheel arrangement) The wire out of the tender connects to another one out of the Engine cab.Hope this helps out...............Keith

[Jumijo]

Thanks for the info, Keith. So from what I gather, the tender isn't going to make any noise without it's loco.

Jim

[IronHoarse]

Only one thing better than trains and that is FREE trains. Enjoy!

[FJ and G]

I've got some "sick" people where I work who could probably be friendlier if they played with trains.

[Anonymous]

That is an amazing story! Have fun with those trains!

And no, you don't need a specific engine to run your Sounds of Steam tender. It works by itself.

[Roger Bielen]

I'll have to tell my daughter-in-law to drop hints, she's an ICU nurse.

[Jumijo]

Thanks, Sask. I will look for information about the SOS Tender. It needs a pick up roller. If you have any other info regarding these tenders, please e-mail me! The shell has the Rock Island roadname on it. I'm thinking about changing it to Boston and Maine.

Roger, I don't think the incredible generosity this man showed was related to his working in a hospital, although it does take a special type of person just to be working in one. I think it was his way of passing on or sharing the fun of toy trains to little kids. He certainly didn't have to give us all that great stuff for the few hours of call my wife assumed for him so he could go home.

As this example illustrates, it does pay to let people know that you collect or operate trains.

And as I said before, there are many nice people in this hobby.

Jim

[1688torpedo]

Hello Jim ! If your tender is a Rock Island then the Engine it belongs to is a #8304 with a 4-4-2 wheel arraingment and you will need the Engine in order for the sounds to work. I have the 8204 which is the same engine only it was made in 1972 and it is the same setup as yours. Sask must have thought your tender only had a whistle. As for the pickup roller. it does not need one as the wire from the engine to the tender completes the circuit and the copper strips on the axles of the tender are for the Ground circuit. The base plate looks like it needs a roller only because Lionel did not change the tooling and cover up the hole for the roller. The same pickup plate was used for the #8204 & 8206 steam engines with tender as they had a electronic whistle along with the sound of steam. The whistle was discontinued in 1974 as the last engine to have a whistle and sound of steam was the #8305 Milwaukee Road 4-4-2 steam engine in 1973. The whistle did not come back until 1980 when Lionel refined it and started using it again on the Berk & Hudson Steam Engines.Hope this helps out.................Keith

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry! I didn't mean to give you incorrect information. My area of expertise is prewar and postwar and I don't have a lot of experience with modern-era trains. I know that the Sounds of Steam tender and whistle tenders are two completely different things. I somehow always thought that they just worked by themselves independently of the engine. I guess I was wrong. I feel a little silly now.

[Jumijo]

Thanks again, Keith! So now I know that the tender is complete and not missing a pickup roller.

Jim

[Jumijo]

No need for apologies, Sask. No one is correct 100% of the time. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a response!

The locos Keith mentioned are pretty nice looking. I'll try to find one at the train show this weekend.

Jim

[ben10ben]

Wow! That's quite a lucky find, and one very nice guy!

I wi***hat I had luck like yours. [:)]

[1688torpedo]

Hello Jim ! I forgot to mention that if the sound of steam board is shot in your tender.Give Warren's Model Trains a call and see if they have any replacement Boards for you,Or. Al Cox of Seattle, Wa may have some left as he was selling some NOS Boards on ebay at a price of $ 25.00 pay -it-now deal. Much cheaper than a Railsound replacement board which start out around $ 100.00 I believe. Take care.............Keith

[Jumijo]

Thanks again, Keith. The more I thought about your posts this weekend, the more sure I became that the 8304 Rock Island loco and SoS tender were what I had as a kid. I distinctly remember the Rock Island name on the tender as well as the tether to the loco. For the life of me, I can't remember the tender making noise.

Jim