Lionel standard Guage 10 and 10E!!

[lionel2]

What is the differences with these two locomotives??  What does the E stand for in 10E??...the 10 is priced at $200 and the 10E is priced at $400...they look exactly alike...and they are made in different years though...anyone help me out??...and how much is a EX set of 3 passenger cars go with this peacock 10 or 10E loco...the 332, 339, and 341...how much is a nice price to purchase this 3 car set of passenger cars??...thanks.

[prewardude]

The 10 has a manual reverse, the 10E has the automatic reversing unit (or "E" unit). I'm not really up on current prices, so I'll let someone else field that question.

 - Clint

[chuck]

I believe the E means it has an  E unit as opposed to an older type 10 that had no reverse unit. 

[lionel2]

Well...I picked up a 10E with the 332, 339, and 341 passenger cars.....One roller on the 10E's pickup is missing..it just has a little stub of copper rolled up to look like a roller...was it made like this or did someone remove the roller and tie it back, because the reversing unit was so bad on these locos...should i replace the orginal pickup with a new SM-59 pickup??...can you believe this...my 10E i think has the original light bulbs on the loco and in the 3 cars....the light bulbs on the 10E are huge and still work just fine...I love this passenger outfit...I even have the original box with it...the set box that is...but not the individual boxes for the loco and cars....and i also picked up a Z transformer to run this set...I am a very happy man today!!....Also....is it common for someone to put a switch underneath a 10E to turn on and turn off the lights on it??  thanks.

[cjmeyers]

My 10E's got the pre-Ives aquisition pendulum E unit, not the more
popular drum-style E unit, found on later pre-war and most post-war.
Haven't run it in a while, I think you can get true directional lights
with the early E unit if I remember right. Should get it out for
Christmas. One think you can't do with the early E-unit is lock it in
neutral. The early pendulum E's have got their own personalities and
need a little extra attention to work reliably, one of the extra neat
facets of working on Std. Ga. They also have very fragile brass
contacts that are easily broken. Ask me how I know! One of the main
reasons JLC bought Ives was to get manufacturing rights to their E-unit
design.

[chuck]

You can get a replacement for the pickup roller assembly from places like Brasseur.  There should be a brass and tin assembly with real rollers.

http://www.traindoctor.com

[lionel2]

You think it would be alright to get a reproduction pickup for my 10E...it will not hurt the value of the loco??...or should I just keep whats on there now...which is a roller on one side and piece of brass coiled up to look like a roller on the other side....thanks.

[chuck]

If you are worried about preserving the value of the unit, leave it alone or get a service center that specializes in pre-war trains to do the work.  I don't buy or sell trains for investment purposes so I don't keep track of this sort of thing. 

I can't say if your 10 E is in it's original state.  Some of these units were sold as kits (Bild a Loco) and some were worked on by serive centers that would have substituted parts when the train went in for repairs.

[lionel2]

I think i must replace the pickup assembly because if i wanted the loco to go across switches, i dont think it will with the current pickup, might just break off or something.  Best thing to do is to replace the pickup with 2 good rollers so it will be able to go across switches and whatever...the thing is I am not sure how to replace the pickup, i would like to try it myself to save some money, or should i just take it to my hobby shop??...thanks.