Help with Lionel pre-war standard gauge trains?

[Darth Santa Fe]

Hi,

A friend from work recently rescued his fathers old Lionel standard gauge trains from ultimate destruction (aka, the garbage can). Most of the trains are in surprisingly good shape, and some are even excellent. He's even got many of the original boxes! Here's some pictures so you know what he's got:

And just for fun, I took this picture of the 390-E next to my American Flyer pre-war Royal Blue.

I believe he wants to have this set running again for his brother. The lead and trailing truck wheels are falling apart from zinc contamination, but I already know that Bowser makes replacements for those. The track is oxidized and corroded beyond reliable use, and the tin plating is also completely gone, so I know that needs to be replaced with new track.

I think what we'd like to know most is, what is the value of all of these (again, many of them have their original boxes)? Also, does anyone make replacement handrail stanchions for the 390-E? I tried googling some results, but couldn't find any.

[ivesboy]

The 390E and 3 maroon cars are a catalogued set. I believe 1929. In that condition if the boxes are complete and nice. 1200 plus another 400 if he has the set box. The other cars are common with the flat boxed about 75, hopper boxed about 125.00. Jeff Kane at www.ttender.com has all the parts you need. Best service and you dont have to wait 3 weeks for your stuff!!!

[cjmeyers]

The 390E is a very desirable engine. I really enjoy running mine. Looks like your engine and associated cars and accessories are in great shape and may need very little work to get them all in top running condition. I encourage you to make the repairs and give it a whirl.

[Darth Santa Fe]

Thanks for the information so far!

I've already tested the motor on the 390-E, and aside from some most likely fixable binding, it runs! I suspect that with a good cleaning and some new wheels (drive wheels seem OK), it can still work as if it was new.

[rtraincollector]

Nice set there . glad you saved them

[Darth Santa Fe]

I've now been allowed to work on getting the train set up and running again. After a really good cleaning with a LOT of alcohol, the 390E seems to work like a new engine. I can't track test it since I don't have any track to use at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it'll work fine once the pilot and trailing wheels are replaced.

I've been looking through ttender's online catalog. I don't see 390 handrail stanchions listed, but they do have 380 stanchions. After looking for pictures of the 380, it looks like the stanchions are identicle. Can those be used to replace the bad and missing ones on the 390?

[arkady]

Darth Santa Fe

I've been looking through ttender's online catalog. I don't see 390 handrail stanchions listed, but they do have 380 stanchions. After looking for pictures of the 380, it looks like the stanchions are identicle. Can those be used to replace the bad and missing ones on the 390?

Just email Jeff Kane and ask him that question. He is very knowledgeable. .

[Darth Santa Fe]

I've got just one more question right now that I forgot to ask earlier. The engine has an automatic reverse unit (E-unit?), but it's not working. Once in a while, it would try to work, but it couldn't quite move the little arm that switches the motor's power. Is this something that can be fixed easily? Also, is it supposed to activate every time the power is turned on, like in Marx steam engines?

I've been cleaning up the body, and although it's in great shape for the most part, the diecast frame and boiler front are showing signs of minor zinc contamination. The boiler front only has a couple chips out of the edges, but the pilot and walkway have separated at the top of the steps. Fortunately, there are plenty of screws in key locations to hold it together. It also looks like when the right side handrail fell off, some sort of cloth tape was used to hold it on. Parts of the tape are still stuck to the shell, but it looks like they're immune to Goo-Gone. This isn't my steam engine, so I definitely don't want to risk damaging the paint by working on that old tape further.

[lionelsoni]

In 1931, Lionel listed only the 380-7 stanchion for all standard-gauge locomotives, which included the 390 and 390E.  In 1937, they listed the 380-7 for all electric-type standard-gauge locomotives and the 380-7n for the 384, 384E, 390, and 390E steam-type locomotives.  I believe that the "n" suffix denotes "nickel".  Modern parts dealers seem to stock 380-7B and 380-7N, in brass and nickel respectively.  I suspect that these correspond to Lionel's 380-7 and 380-7n.  So, which is correct for your locomotive seems to depend on when it was made--brass earlier, nickel later.  But, since you have some of the original stanchions, just match them.