Prewar Help

[dougdagrump]

My wife surprised me with a prewar set, our knowledge of the prewar trains is non-existent, which is in need of some help. I know there are some prewar fans in here so I was looking for suggesstions as to where I can find illustrated parts breakdowns, parts and tips for restoration. I figured instead of just surfing I'd get better info from satisfied customers. [^]
Thanks, Doug

[cnw1995]

Wow, how lucky you are! I learned on my 248 and 1684 by unscrewing the shells and poking around.

[3railguy]

To the best of my knowledge, There aren't any compiled prewar service manuals for prewar like there is postwar. Greenburg published an operating manual which is pretty basic. Otherwise, what has been published is somewhat scattered. Some parts dealers have provided a few exploded drawings here and there. Service Articles for individual engines have been published in CTT and OGR too. Your best bet is to get a Greenburg operating manual and start from there.

[Dave Farquhar]

I've found some restoration tips by poking around online. The TCA web site has a couple of interesting articles, and Peter Riddle's books have some tips. The out-of-print Trains From Grandfather's Attic walks you through disassembly, stripping, painting, and reassembly. His Tips & Tricks book has a few pointers in it too, though Grandfather's Attic is the better book from a prewar standpoint. It's out of print though, I think.

There are a couple of Yahoo groups with some good info in their archives. The Standard Gauge group (Standg) has good tips that apply to O gauge. The TTML group (TCA sponsored) has tips too. You can search the latter site at www.toytrains.info; its search engine is better than Yahoo's.

All that said, I've yet to undertake a really ambitious project. I'm keeping an eye out for some very poor condition common Marx 6-inchers (552s, 553s, 556s--cars that would be worth $5 in good shape) to learn my skills on before I tackle something more valuable.

[ben10ben]

Many of the prewar steamers also have a postwar counterpart, and, if you ignore the smoke unit, the service diagrams for the postwar engines can be used for them.

[Boonter]

For whatever reason, I decided to try to stick with pre-war stuff when I got bitten by this bug a few months ago. I got a copy of Greenbergs Guide to Prewar Parts and Instructiuon sheets. (Its available new) and a couple of Klambach's "how to" books. So far I've been able to refurbish a couple of engines and a couple of accessories. Also a switch that was VERY reluctant to work. I have NO history with toy trains. This forum is about the best for help with specific things not covered in print.[8D]

[dougdagrump]

Thanks for the info.[tup].
Now it's waiting for the weather to change so I'll have an excuse to start on them, supposedly going to be an El Ninio winter, RAIN.[:-^]

[Anonymous]

Doug,

Thats quite a wife! I have three pre war sets that came from my dad. I refurbished a few cars and purchased some junkers off EBAY which I redid myself. See if you can get your hands on the March 2001 issue of CTT. The cover story was restoring old prewar trains. It had good info on this topic. IT also suggests you can use some krylon paints that match the old paint exactly. And, you can always go to Charles Wood for that hard to find color like Terra Cotta. Good luck!