You're in the best of hands 'lizzie! Come in and chat anytime, there's no dumb questions here, only the ones you're afraid to ask.
And don't forget to let us know how it turns out!
Update! Larry (TrainLarry) is fixing the engine and transformer for me! What a helpful and knowledgeable guy.
aboard!
That's an excellent collection! Look in your local phone books or search online for hobbyshops. You may have to do a bit of calling/searching before you find someone locally that can do repair work, but it would be worth the effort to do a tune-up and fix that loose wheel.
Do you shop on Ebay? Here's a link to the correct category where trains like these are supposed to be listed: https://www.ebay.com/b/Lionel-1910-1944-Year-O-Scale-Model-Railroads-Trains/19145/bn_112971781?rt=nc&_sop=1.
Couplers are what will be the biggest issue in compatability. These are Lionel prewar latch couplers:
Latch couplers work with Lionel's Box Coupler, which is what's on your loco's tender:
In short, as long as any new (antiques but new to you) cars or locos you buy should have one of these two types of couplers to work. Based on how expensive the cars were when they were made (between 1914 and 1942 generally speaking), the latch type couplers may have been set at a different height. But it's very easy to bend the shank of the latch couplers (that s-shaped part) to adjust for any issues.
It's hard to tell for sure, but it looks like your steam engine is a 249E, the number should be on a small metal plate under the side windows. I just did a quick Ebay search and right now there are several for sale around $100. Replacing just the motor assembly would cost about half that and I saw 3 in that range. Here's a link to a website that sells repair parts that has online diagrams of locos and their part numbers: http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/searchcd2m.htm.
Good luck! But beware, toy trains are habit forming!
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Thank you all SO much for the insight! This was extremely helpful to me, and I think I have several good options for how to get this done. I am so excited! I will keep you all posted about how it turns out. I know my husband is going to flip out. You all are a very kind group of people, and I appreciate your tolerating my serious train ignorance! :-)
'lizzie, from what I can see from the photo the engine looks like it's in pretty good shape. You probably don't need a full-blown restoration, just enough to get it running.
In what part of the country do you live? If you're anywhere near southeastern Pennsylvania you can try these folks...
www.henningstrains.com One of their specialties is pre-war restorations.
I've purchased restored post-war engines from them and they do a super job.
If there's any hobby shops in your area possibly they know of someone local who can do the job.
And as far as I know, I believe any post-war engine will mate up with that pre-war tender without too much difficulty, if there's any difficulty at all.
As far as transformers are concerned any post-war transformer in good condition or current production AC transformer for O gauge trains will work just fine with that vintage engine.
Oh, and
PS: What a good wife you are! Your hubby's a lucky man!
In most cases if you buy a steam type engine, you can hook it up to that tender you have there. ( in case you don't know what a tender is, it's the grey/black cr next to the engine in your picture. )
Not sure how well your husband could do it, if he has never done it before. If you all could find a Model railroad club in the area that runs O/O27 trains, you may find someone there that could help you get that engine going again. I would bet it will run once properly cleaned and relubed/oiled. You have a nice looking set there. Like others have said I would look into a new a/c output transformer.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Welcome to the forum!
You can couple your prewar cars to a newer postwar knuckle equipped locomotive using an adapter. Part # TT-100 available here should get your trains running while your locomotive is being serviced.
Larry
Although the track is compatible, the prewar couplers are profoundly different from postwar and later. I suggest buying a new or used transformer and a modest postwar or later locomotive and lashing its tender's coupler to one of the prewar cars, using perhaps string, wire, rubber bands, bag ties, or whatever you have.
Bob Nelson
Hi folks! My husband just found his dad's/grandfather's pre-war (I'm pretty sure) Lionel train. His dad passed away five years ago, and he has been very sad about it ever since. Finding this train and remembering all the Christmases they had with it under the tree was a really big deal to him. His birthday is in early November and I would LOVE to have it running for him by then. I honestly don't have the time or skill set to repair the issues with the train based on what I've found online so far. The locomotive would need to be taken apart and cleaned, plus one of its wheels keeps falling off. And the transformer looks so rough that I'm afraid it's dangerous (I've got an 18 month old at home). So, while I would ideally love to do a big restoration project, I don't think it's possible for us right now. I think if I could show them that it's possible for it to run, it would be an awesome project for my husband and our son in the future. Plus, it would give him so many good memories of his dad. In short, I want to be able to run some of the cars around a track, even if we need a new engine temporarily while we work on the old one. Is that possible that I could buy a new set and then attach the old cars to it? (We have six additional cars--caboose, hopper, sunoco, coal, passenger, cattle car; sorry if those names aren't correct.) If so, is there a small set that you can recommend, or some specifics about what I should buy? Can I just buy an O-gauge set and attach the old cars to the new engine? What problems might arise? I can't figure out how to attach pictures, but this is the engine/cars that we have.
Thank you all SO much for your assistance--if I can make this happen for my husband, I think it will be an extremely memorable holiday season.
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