Question about front tender couplers

[SleeperN06]

I started to take down my Christmas display and my grandson is devastated, so I set him up his own little track.

A while back I bought a 1963 plastic 2-4-2 along with a tender for my grandson from eBay. The tender turns out to a brand other than Lionel. It barely couples on the 2-4-2 and will not couple to any other Lionel car that I have.

I’m now looking for a cheap tender so that he will be able to run a train. I noticed that the front tender couplers have various configurations such as a ‘slot’ or a ‘hole & slot’. Just out of curiosity, what’s the hole for and are the slots all the same size?

Also, I saw complete tender frames with wheels for sale on eBay. Could I somehow fasten one of those frames onto the tender I got by maybe drilling a hole or something?

 

[phillyreading]

The hole in the tender's metal piece in the front is for pre war(before WW2) steam engines, if it has both a round hole & a slot it was a later model pre war tender made near 1940.

As for your tender without knowing the number or manufacturer I would suggest changing out the rear truck assembly to a Lionel truck assembly that you like. Most of the time a rivot was used to hold the truck assemblies to the frame and all you have to do is drill the head off the rivot and the truck comes off. Re-attaching can be done by rivots or bolt & nut(try a locking nut or lock washer to keep nut in place) or metal screw that will hold it in place.

Lee F.

[SleeperN06]

Thanks Lee,

That’s a good idea, I didn’t think of that. I just need to cut off the imitation plastic trucks. It only has 2 wheels, 1 in the front and 1 in the back. I was looking for a brand and it has MAR stamped inside. It is really cheep and after looking at it some more, I might have to do something with the front as well.

I'm trying to remember that its only a toy  for a 2-1/2 year old and will probably get broke anyway.

[DMUinCT]

The Circle with "MAR" in it has a big "X" in that circle.  That's "MARX" a very large toy company prior to the 1970s.  Check "E-Bay" under MARX, see if you can get an 8 wheel MARX tender, change the trucks to Lionel and you should be good.   If you want to keep what you have, finding a "dummy" Lionel type coupler to screw to the back of the tender should be easy.

[servoguy]

 If there is a swap meet near you, you should be able to buy a tender for a few dollars.  The older tenders without whistles don't bring much.

 Bruce Baker

[phillyreading]

Is the engine Marx as well? You may not be able to use the engine with a Lionel tender, however I am not sure. Need to make sure that the draw bar from the engine matches the tender's slot in the draw bar hook-up piece.

I had an older Lionel engine that I changed out motors with a newer engine as both had problems and could be solved by changing motor assemblies with engine shells. The only thing I lost with that swap-out was a set trailing wheels(was a 2-4-2, now a 2-4-0) on the 235 scout engine, the other thing is now it is a DC motor instead of an AC motor.

Lee F.

[8ntruck]

I just got a Marx 666 locomotive on e-bay.  It has a flat hook type drawbar that works fine with my Lionel tenders.

It came with a tender and a few pieces of rolling stock (which I sold to a friend with Marx equipment).  I was trying to decide if I wanted to swap out the rear truck on the tender or just replace it with a Lionel tender.  I'm going to get a Lionel tender.  As somebody pointed out, they are inexpensive.  Besides, I'm lazy - I really don't want to take the time to replace a truck.

Good luck.

[SleeperN06]

The Lionel does fit into the Marx slot but it’s very tight. The rear Marx coupler is another story. It’s not only too small for the Lionel knuckle couplers but it’s too low. I tried forcing it on just so the boy can use it and there is no way.  My grandson figured out on his own that he doesn’t need the tender and just connects the loco to a box car, so if he’s happy with that, I’m not going to worry about it.  I don’t know what to do with the Marx tender. I might just toss it in the trash.

As far as buying one for a few dollars, I have never seen train stuff at swap meets or garage sells. The only source I got is eBay and everybody is trying to get rich on it. Even if I do see a tender cheap enough, the shipping is outrageous. I will never buy a steamer without a tender again. The tenders are going for as much as the loco.