Recently got one of these off Ebay for the grand price of 51 bucks. When delivered, I was surprised at what good condition it was in. I made sure everything was freed up and ran it and, after a bit of growling, ran like a champ. I know absolutely nothing about tinplate, so I have a couple of questions I hope someone can answer.
Question #1: Is there some way to date these things with reasonable accuracy? Seems to be a bit of conflicting information out there.
The one I got is red and silver with two Omahas and the ever present Squaw Bonnet. It has a single drive axle and the mounting screw above the front porthole looks like it came from the factory that way. Some have mentioned a "spotlight" hole located on the cowling behind the headlight, but this one doesn't have that hole. The cars look like the windows were punched through a painted blue strip (someone had mentioned that made a difference as opposed to window frames) and it doesn't look like it has ever had any kind of lighting installed. It runs forward only, unless something I don't know about isn't working. I hope someone can help on this question, although the age of the thing isn't really important to me - just a nagging question that I hope I can get an answer for.
Question #two:What would you suggest for cleaning this set?
The paint is in exceptionally good condition with little wear other than around the top, back edge of the cars and a very minor scratch on the grill. It does, however, seem to have a very light layer of "scum" in places like the top of the engine and some of the car sides - Smoke maybe, or the type of residue you might see building up over a kitchen range. It does not feel oily, however. It's not really bad, but if I could clean it off it would I would surely appreciate the set more. If I do get it cleaned, would you suggest some type of wax or other protection.
Regardless, it's going to look good running underneath a Christmas tree next month.
Congrats on picking up one of the more fun passenger sets IMHO. The single axle 10005s are forward only, but I am told they can be converted fairly easily (and not permanently) to the two axle with reverse motor by installing a bracket.
When I received mine (also from eBay) it was pretty dirty too. I used a damp rag first to get off as much of the grime as I could. Then I used an Arm and Hammer Magic Eraser and gently buffed the tin. I think it turned out pretty nice. I have removed litho with the Magic Eraser, so be as gentle as you can (and do so at your own risk...).
As for running one under a Christmas tree:
watch?v=tLv36LYtsP8
Hope this helps,
J White
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