Recently, I was able to get a very good deal on a 326. However, it has a lot of needs. The most noticeable issues are that the trailing truck is gone, and the previous owner used a hacksaw to shorten the boiler. He did a great job though. Two steps are gone from the tender, but I'll even that out. I have taken the engine and tender apart to see what else is needed. I have another boiler and trailing truck, so that isn't a problem. All of the castings will be stripped using Super Clean and repainted and relettered. Here are some pictures.
Wow don't know why he shortened the boiler. Anyway I can't wait to see it finished it should look awesome.
Give me steam locomotives or give me DEATH!
Berkshire Junction, bringing fourth the cry of the Iron Horse since 1900.
Bryan,
When I spoke with the original owner (Gary), he said that the reason he shortened the boiler and removed the trailing truck was that the truck would derail in reverse. He did an amazing job with a hacksaw and epoxy. I really had to look to see where he made the cut. I pulled all of the usable parts from the shortened boiler and threw it away. I figured that there isn't any reason to have it around. I have the tender shell soaking right now in a strong detergent solution because I was too lazy to go out and get the Super Clean today.
I did more work last night. I drove the stanchions out of the pilot and used nail polish remover to remove the red paint from them. I will polish them asap. I also removed the headlight lens from the boilerfront and will soak it in peroxide to hopefully removing the yellowing.
He did do a good job on that boiler I probably would have mistaken it since I don't know much about these flyer engines. Oh and great tips on restoration!
Jim,
Glad you got the loco and are pleased with it. As I think I told you, I shortened it around 1959 and used epoxy (which was cutting edge tech back then; it was also white, not clear, with a set time of about 4 hours, IIRC) to glop it back together. I think it took about an hour to do the cuts with a dull hacksaw blade. I don't think my dad had any sharp ones. I also don't think he was real happy with my project. I'll be following your progress and wish you the best with it, as it was about to head to the trash otherwise. Gary
It also came with a box of AF cars, all of which had been converted to Kadee HO couplers, but that's another story.
arkady,
I will be using Krylon paint. I'll use gray primer, then follow that with satin (semi flat) black.
I was looking over the parts again, and I noticed a small problem with the 326 boiler that I bought. It is from the later version of the 326 that didn't have a jack panel, so I've got some drilling to do.
I got the holes drilled and tapped, so that is out of the way. While I was doing that, I noticed that the right corner of the cab roof is bent down slightly. I'll just leave that as is because I don't want to push my luck. Actually, this saves me some work as I don't have to remove the two remaining steps now since the 326 that the boiler is from likely rolled or fell at some point in its life, and the steps could have been damaged at the same time.
I've have done more work, but I've decided to abandon this project. The smoker unit heater is open, and there is epoxy slopped on the screws for the lower cover, so a rebuild would be difficult. I've got $60.05 ($10.05 to buy Hudson and $50 for boiler and trailing truck) invested so far, and I don't feel that it would be practical to put any more money into this at this point.
In my previous post, I had given up hope for this project. After thinking about it for several hours and digging through my junk boxes, I've decided to continue. It might take some money, but what else would I spend that money on anyway? With that in mind, I went to Walmart and bought the paint and a gallon of Super Clean. The castings have only been soaking for a few minutes, but the paint is coming off already.
Good luck, and please hang in there and finish the job. You'll be glad you did.
Terry Thomann Fredericksburg, Virginia That is me on the left. My brother got the train TCA 09-64381
Yeah I think you should continue the project. I mean that engine has been begging to get back on the rails again, especially in top form. You didn't may hardly anything for it anyway.
I have all of the castings stripped and ready for primer. If anyone reads this and plans to use Super Clean like I did, be warned, it can be corrosive. When I checked the castings last night, the tender shell and steamchest were stripped, but the others needed more time. Not thinking much about it, I tossed the bare tender shell and steamchest back into the Super Clean. When I pulled them out today, they had a significant amount of corrosion on them. The other castings which had just lost the remainder of their paint were unaffected. Some time with the Dremel tool took care of the corrosion.
I have just finished spraying primer and the castings will be ready for the color coat tomorrow morning. I spent a considerable amount of time today building fixtures to hold all of the castings so that spraying them would be easier. It is amazing what you can do with scrap wood and wire coat hangers.
The paint is dry and here are some pics. Next, I will paint the inside of the stack white. I'll also order the dry transfer lettering and the rest of the needed parts so that I can get this finished.
Looking good!
Can't wait to see her back together and with lettering/numbers on.
Thanks for sharing!
NIce Job Jim, Looking forward to the final pics. I just recieved an O gauge 531 Hudson in a pile of Flyer stuff off ebay and look to do the same thing. The engine has been repainted a long time ago with the wrong tender. Fortunately I have a prewar Hudson tender for it from another ebay purchase long ago... I''ll have to post some pics of the prgress in another thread. It'll be neat its an RDC Hudson like the 559 K-5 and the 534 4-8-4 Challenger. I'd love to build a Flyer layout just for these guys but I don't have the extra room after the Lionel layout.
That looks awesome! Its getting closer to resurection.
Dennis,
Good luck with the hudson. I almost bought a 561 K5 set that a local dealer has a few months ago. It is gorgeous, and all of the original boxes are there and just as nice.
I was going to order the dry transfers, but they are gone from ebay at the moment. I'll keep watching, but I'll have to get rubber stamps if the transfers aren't relisted. I still need to order parts as well.
Have you tried Doug at www.portlines.com?
He was always very helpful to me and has a lot of AF parts and dry transfers. Last time I checked he had rubber stamps, too. These stamps are EXACT copies of the fonts that A.C. Gilbert used.
Hope this helps!
Greg,
I have ordered from Doug several times and I will be getting the parts for this project from him. I saw the stamps for the 326, but he doesn't have the transfers that I need. If I have to order stamps, I'll get them from Doug.
Quick update on my 531, I took it apart the other night and got it to run, the E unit and RDC coil work and there is no binding of drivers! I got real lucky with this one as the only crumbled parts were the pilot, the pilot wheels and trailing wheels. All else is solid. It even had a clean complete set of linkage minus the two spacers and a few screws. I kind of hit the 3/16ths O jackpot lately (well maybe if you like to restore stuff) Picked up a 553, two 556's and the 531 plus the Royal Blue pass cars and some freights for a total of about $100 less shipping. Got lucky with only 1 bad drive wheel on the four motors and a decent diecast O hopper car. I'll have to check Doug out for any parts I need.
Just wanted to let everyone know that the restoration is still in progress, but I haven't had the time lately to do more work. I will resume asap.
green97probeDennis, Good luck with the hudson. I almost bought a 561 K5 set that a local dealer has a few months ago. It is gorgeous, and all of the original boxes are there and just as nice.
Jim, if it had a 558C chugger tender and a boxed red 494/495/495/496 consist, I may have sold that a few years ago to a guy in Milwaukee
Nice job so far. I see you have the same make of paint booth I have. My wife still wont stop about the overspray on the dryer.
I've decided to continue with this project again, and I just ordered the lettering tonight. I'll have to wait a bit to order the rest of the needed parts, but I will get this one finished sooner or later.
I applied the dry transfer today.
Here is the reason I used the 322 and not the 326
The backing slipped off the numbers and the 6 got stuck. It doesn't really matter though since this is a restoration.
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