I got my first Lionel set in 1951. I don't know how Dad ever afforded it, since he was an undergrad at the time, and working part-time at night, but somehow he did. Santa brought me that 2026 that Christmas.
He graduated the following year, got a job in another town, and we moved. The Christmas layout expanded drastically after that, with a wooden train platform, wooden buildings (courtesy of my grandfather), accessories, more cars and -- incredible luxury! -- switches.
But along with the Christmas train-set boxes stored in the attic, there was another box. It contained a strange, old-fashioned olive-green locomotive with a sheet-metal body and three metal passenger cars in the same odd green paint. The couplers were like nothing I'd ever seen before -- no knuckles here, just complicated contraptions of levers and catches.
In fact, it was a Lionel 252 prewar electric and its original cars, though I didn't know that at the time. Slowly, I came to understand that it had been Dad's own train set from when he was a boy. I never found out when he'd brought it from my grandmother's place.
I might have gotten more use out of it if it had actually been in running order, but it wasn't. When I put it on the rails and applied a little voltage from the 1033 transformer, it would hum ominously and perhaps spark a little, but it never moved at all. So I just put it and its passenger cars on a couple of lengths of Marx 027 track on my layout and pretended it was a siding.
At some point, Dad removed the 252's trim parts, on the grounds that such a small kid as I might pull them off and swallow them. In later years, even he admitted that this had been a rather stupid move. In the first place, even at my youngest, I'd never shown any interest in eating toy-train hardware. And in the second place, he "put them aside in a safe place," and promptly lost them for good.
Fast forward to the Eighties. We'd long moved into our new house in 1959. I'd left home to get married in 1969, and started Lionel collecting on my own. The 252 and a couple of cars sat on a shelf in Dad's den for some years, none of them getting any better looking or in better condition with the passage of time. Worst of all, the wheels of the 252 were crumbling away with the dreaded Zinc Rot.
Dad died in the early Nineties, and a few years ago I inherited the 252 and its ancillaries (which included a nice prewar tinplate Lionel bridge set). Mom had kept it in the attic for many years, and asked me if I wanted it, the implication being that a piece of junk like this was ready for the dumpster. True, it wasn't much to look at at the time, but I figured that its sentimental value alone made it worth keeping.
I retired in April of this year, and have more time to work on hobby projects, so I figured that now was the time to turn my attention to the 252. I'd restored other toy trains over the years, but never one as far gone as this. In addition to its inability to run and its disintegrating wheels, it was missing one latch coupler -- as were a couple of the passenger cars. Dad was always a bit dodgy about just what had happened to the set; I suspect that his boyhood self may not have been as careful as we both might have wished. And, of course, the trim parts were long vanished into the fourth dimension (no, I never swallowed them).
My first step was to find new wheels. Thanks to Jeff Kane at TTTender, I discovered that reproduction wheels for this locomotive were available. I ordered a new set and a couple of new brushes, since the old ones were missing.
Next, before ordering any more parts, I had to get the motor running. A couple of hours poking around in the innards, cleaning the commutator and removing generations of 3-in-1 Oil from all moving parts made it look a lot better, but it still just hummed and buzzed when power was applied. Then, to my amusement (or something), I spun the armature by hand to work the fresh lube into its bearings, and one of the missing brushes fell out! It had apparently been removed (Dad's work, probably) ages ago, then improperly reinstalled. It had been sitting there in the armature cavity shorting out the motor whenever current was applied.
I installed the new brushes and hopefully applied current to the rollers and the frame. Success! For the first time since around 1939, the aged motor spun up and kept on running. I let it go for a while to seat the new brushes, then turned my attentions to the wheels.
The old wheels were easy to remove -- in fact, they were so deteriorated that I did it with my bare hands. At least I didn't have to worry about quartering the drivers, since the 252 was an electric-prototype locomotive. But the process of installing the new drivers was complex enough to keep me busy for an entire long afternoon. After a good bit of trial and error, I managed to get them properly aligned and spaced, and their gear wheels solidly seated.
My hopes were high when I put the naked chassis (minus the tinplate body) on a circle of test track, and connected my old 1033, slowly raising the voltage. After a few false starts from dirty track, it worked! I reattached the body and set the 252 to running on its break-in trip. For the first time in seventy years (and the first time in my own lifetime), the old workhorse was rounding a track under its own power! I'd like to think that Dad was watching with approval, somewhere.
I removed the body again and cleaned it thoroughly with automotive wax and Q-Tips, dissolving away decades of surface dirt. I also went over the remaining brass trim (railings, doors, flag holders, etc.) with Simi-Chrome, restoring them to their original luster. The 252 has some normal chips and scratches here and there, but nothing really serious. It not only ran, it looked good again! I still have to replace the insulation on a couple of wires where the original insulation is cracking and crumbling, but that won't be difficult. I also tapped a couple of small dents out of the front hoods with a hardwood dowel, a hardwood anvil and a tack hammer. Now that the 252 is back on active duty, I'll soon be ordering replacement trim parts and couplers (I'll post a photo when it's finished).
I guess my point in this longish essay is that collecting and restoring old toy trains isn't a simple process of having one of everything, like depression glass or matchbook covers or milk bottles. Nor is it solely a matter of honing and expanding your own mechanical skills -- even though good mechanical skills are a must in this hobby. Nor can it be entirely chalked up to nostalgia, though nostalgia surely plays a part in collecting.
In this case, at least, the restoration didn't just involve making a long-neglected toy run again -- though that's a worthy goal in itself. For me, this was the challenge of bringing a fragment of my past -- and my father's -- back to functional life. A piece of family history was rescued from the jaws of the garbage bin to regain the proud place it should always have had.
And that's a very satisfying experience.
This is a wonderful story wonderfully told about rebirth. Personally, I am glad you left everything as it was.....after the necessary parts replacements, cleaning, and lubrication was completed. That's what I would have done.
Like you, I also wish my Dad were alive to see our old trains run as they did almost six decades ago, except the children in the portrait are his great grandchildren he didn't live to see. Sadly, all of his childhood trains were, out of necessity, sold off during the Depression by my grandparents to put food on the family table. All I have left of his stuff is an American Flyer water tower, and I have it prominently displayed in my wife's china cabinet!
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
Wonderful story! I have a 252 also--a gift from an elderly friend. It runs, but the bearings for the armature shaft are shot and the pinion bottoms out in the teeth of the idler gear. A lot of extra friction and gets hot fast, so it can't be run long at all
But it is a nice piece, and has some good memories attached to it, which is not something I can say for most of the trains I've bought myself.
This is a great story. While my dad is still alive, I do have his trains and they are all back in running order. With the passing of my mother this past year, I am ever mindful of the precious time we have left with him and I am glad that I was able to express how great my childhood was..including the trains he brought me up with.
Thanks for sharing.Dennis
TCA#09-63805
DJSpanky Can't wait to see the pictures!
Can't wait to see the pictures!
Wow thats one of the best toy train stories I have ever heard of. I wish my dad loved trains as much as I did. You are extremely lucky.
Give me steam locomotives or give me DEATH!
Berkshire Junction, bringing fourth the cry of the Iron Horse since 1900.
As others have said, this is a great story! Thanks, "arkady," for sharing (and hopefuly the photos soon). It makes me feel a tad guilty because I have a 1946 Lionel "O" Gauge set that I've not set up even temporarily in decades. It was bought by my father (RIP) when he got back from Germany after WWII, and we did the best we could at the time, with it on a ping-pong table, from which my brother often drove the No. 726(-86) 2-8-4 Berkshire off the table. But everything survived, even the locomotive.
Since my son has no interest, though he enjoyed watching my minimal layout when he was a child, I have had no motivation now to put together a layout and expand. And, as has been reported on other forum threads, I don't know anyone else of any age in my neighborhood who'd find delight in it.
I did replace a couple of missing Baby Ruth crates that get thrown out of the door of my No. 3454 Operating Merchandise Car (Type I).
Banks, Proud member of the OTTS TCA 12-67310
Thanks for the tips, Servoguy. I have been wondering if I could do something like that. Thing is, the motor is constructed in such a way that I'd have to remove the pinion to get at the bearing--which I have to admit kind of scares me :-/
Arkady, great story. Congratulations on breathing new life into your Dad's locomotive! I never had Lionel trains as a child. My older brother had a Lionel layout though. I had HO trains.(Sigh!) When I was 17 in 1974 and in high school my Dad gave me his Lionel 602 Seaboard switcher because he knew that I always liked trains. He worked for GM all his life and for awhile built the real locomotive which is why he bought the 602 at the age of 39. I remember he used to keep it on a shelf in our Den. I bought track, a small transformer, and 4 MPC freight cars and a caboose and ran it under our Christmas tree the year he gave it to me. Well, then it was put away for about 7 years until my son came along in 1981 and I went back to my parents house and brought it home and set it up for my son to watch that Christmas. Ever since then I have been playing with O gauge trains and having a blast the whole time!
Cobrabob.
Toy Trains, they are not just an adventure, they are a way of life !
I just inherited my Grandpa's #252 Engine and I am looking at restoring it along with three other cars. I am new to the community so I was just wondering if you or someone else knew where to get Lionel parts and paints? Also, do you know what the Lionel part number is for 252?
Thanks
freedude32 I just inherited my Grandpa's #252 Engine and I am looking at restoring it along with three other cars. I am new to the community so I was just wondering if you or someone else knew where to get Lionel parts and paints? Also, do you know what the Lionel part number is for 252? Thanks
I'd recommend Olsen's, OTTP dot com. They have a plethora of pre and post-war parts and paints matched to TCA color charts. Also, their library has exploded diagrams so you can be sure to order the proper part numbers.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Sadly, my dad passed away 3 days after Christmas in 1978. I was 9, he was 76. Having been born in 1902 he was alive during many of the 20th century's pivotal events. Everything from the Wright Brother's first flight to the Titanic, WW1, WW2 and the nation's bicentennial. He was also one of the very first American Boy Scouts. He even worked for the IRS during the depression!
He grew up poor in a big family. In fact, he was sent to live with one of his aunts at the age of 9 to make room for the newest addition to his family. So he never had great toys like Lionel Trains. But he always loved trains, and saw and rode behind the types of steam engines in operation that most of us have only seen cold and in museums. Sometime around 1965 (best guess) my half-sister bought him a Lionel. And that's the set I inherited on my first Christmas in 1969. The 239 Scout didn't survive my childhood, but the cars are all in good shape and a 246 now pulls them around.
If he'd had trains as a kid, they would have been some of the greats. Possibly Carlisle and Finch, Ives or early Lionel 2 7/8 gauge. Maybe they would have been 10 series freights pulled by a #5 Special or early passenger cars behind a 1910. But it was not meant to be. Of course I'd be stupid if I wouldn't want his childhood trains had they existed, but that's not the singular item from his past that I wish I had. No, what I would want would be his Boy Scout uniform.
Tremendous story!
freedude32 I just inherited my Grandpa's #252 Engine and I am looking at restoring it along with three other cars. I am new to the community so I was just wondering if you or someone else knew where to get Lionel parts and paints? Also, do you know what the Lionel part number is for 252?
I can personally recommend Jeff Kane at The Train Tender:
http://www.ttender.com/
As for paints, I've never had to order any. But this looks like a good place:
http://henningstrains.com/CollectorColor.html
I'm in the process of re-wheeling a 252 as well. Got the old wheels off and have the new ones ready to go. I'm using the Bowser replacement wheels and wanted to see if there was any work I needed to do to the replacements, as the axles seem like they are not going to go in. I tried tapping the axle with a hammer. I also tried using a C clamp to push the axle, but that didn't work, either. What I am attempting next is: I have the axles in the freezer, and I'll try inserting them when they are cold. But tapping is a concern because of the possibilty that the axles will be too brittle.
Thanks,
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