Altering old Lionel Rollingstock, sensible re-use or vandalisim?

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone,

What is the general school of thought in the hobby of Toy Train model railroading about the issue of altering old pieces of rollingstock for improved operation or ethetics? The reason why I ask this is because I have just completed a project that may, in the eyes of some people in this forum, be considered vandalism! Let me explain...
My introduction to O guage toy trains came when a friend of my father's gave me a box of Lionel track and rollingstock that was otherwise going to be thrown away. The items inside the box were in various states of condition, some pieces were in good shape, a few were in need of repair, and one piece in particular was a basket case.
The basket case was an old Spot Light car that Lionel produced durring the early 1950's, it was essentially a depressed center flat car with a simulated orange diesel-electric generator mounted on the depressed deck and a spot light fixture mounted on the "A" End of the car. From what I have read, the spot light was suppossed to have revolved automatically whenever the car was placed on energized track.
Now here is the rub, this particular Spot Light Car I had was in rough shape. The spot light fixture was missing, all that remained was the bayonet socket for the light bulb, the body of the car was dirty, the paint was scratched, and the third rail roller had broken off its truck.
What to do with this thing?
Well having been an HO scale model railroader for many years I have had lots of experience modifing rollingstock to more closely resemble what ever prototype I was modeling so I decided to aply my modeling skills into turning this flood light car into something more usefull. Off came the orange generator shell and the light socket (yes I saved all the parts). I then used a Dremel tool to grind off the circular lip that ringed the hole where the spot light fixture once stood and then covered up the hole with thin styrene plast sheet. After the new plastic decking was secured I spray painted the car box car brown and lettered it with Micro Scale Decals. Finally I made a load for this car by sheathing a block of bulsa wood with styrene plastic sheet to create a very large crate. This crate was then cemented to the drop center of the car and apropriate bracing was applied.
The end result? A broken flood light car was transformed into a handsome looking depressed center flat car with a load.
Now the question is this: Should I have made an effort to restore the car to its original condition despite the cost and scarcity of replacement parts or did I do something acceptable, turn an incomplete and damaged item into something usefull and nice looking albiet of no value to collectors?
All Opinions are welcome...

Scott218

[Dave Farquhar]

Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with what you did. When you find a basket case, it's usually good to check out to make sure it's not one of the rare variations of the piece, in which case it makes sense to restore to original or sell to someone who wants it.

But making custom pieces out of basket cases that would otherwise be useless is a subset of the hobby that most people admire. And you still have the parts you removed, so maybe someday you'll get lucky and find another basket case that's missing those parts, in which case, you brought another car to life.

Bottom line... The overwhelming majority of these trains aren't rare at all, and they were meant to be enjoyed, so what you want to do to allow a basket case to be enjoyed again really is up to you.

[wrmcclellan]

Scott218 - if you are having fun, that is the criteria. I also agree with Dave F. Separately, if one were to destroy a valuable collectable item, one just made the remaining ones even more valuable.

Regards,
Roy

[jefelectric]

I agree with Dave and Roy. Most of the run of the mill Lionel stuff, particularly of 50s vintage has been going down in value. The truly rare stuff seems to be holding up in value and I don't think you would want to modify it as it can still be sold and new items that run and look a heck of a lot better bought with the proceeds.

John

[mickey4479]

No need to chime in I guess, but I agree with all replies. I found an old beat up lionel tank car at a show, missing one truck and with a broken coupler. I weathered the frame and tank, scratch built a platform and ladder and have the piece on my layout as a railside oiling station. I also found a flat car that wobbled down the track the wheels were so bad. I will just look for some junked trucks with good wheels. Some of the pieces you see at train shows are in sad shape. If I can resurrect them and the price is right I would do it.

[thor]

I think its entirely up to you what you do with it but if it had been mine I'd have made it work as it was meant to simply because I dont have one and it strikes me as being more interesting than simply a flat car with a load. However I fully intend to go looking for old Lionel stuff thats broken simply to strip it for parts.

[otftch]

Its your train and your hobby.Enjoy it any way you can.What good is it to you if its not what you want ? I recently aquired a lionel UP diner car from the fifties and repainted it to match my Santa-Fe cars.They don"t make a SF diner.I purchased it soley for that purpose.I would have prefered to re-paint a less expensive (or rare) car,but it was the one to come up.
Ed

[brianel027]

Scott, when I got back into thia hobby 15+ years ago, the collector-mania was in full-swing. One thing I found from many conversations at that time with some of these so-called "collectors" is that they want to tell you in general that everything is worth money, but then when it comes time to make an offer, they are very quick to notice every defect, tell you the piece is common and that it isn't worth that much.

I came to the conclusion very early on that the price guides are completely useless and that your trains (once you buy them) are YOUR trains to do with them as you see fit. The collector aspect of the hobby has certainly helped it in the past through some lean times, but it has also hurt the hobby too. And any time you throw the possibility of big money into the mix, it usually brings out the worse aspects in people: like guys at trains shows with cheap-o Lionel DC starter sets in Pepsi boxes saying they're in mint condition and wanting $250 ("because it's a rare collectible").

Sure, if you stumble across something that is truly rare or unusual, it would be a shape to take a good piece and repaint or rebuild it. But there is no shortage of very common trains that are beaters, junkers, missing parts, have serious scratches, etc. And in my mind these are all prime candidates for the paint shop.

I have done some extensive rebuilding and repainting over the years. Is my train collection worth more money because of it. Probably not. But it wasn't worth much to begin with because of the low end trains and beaters I was buying in the first place. After I got done with the trains, they were worth a lot more to me, and that's what matters. It's really all that matters.

[Anonymous]

Thank you every one for your responses, I am relieved to know that I didn't commit a hobby faux pas!