Lionel 392E Chugger Unit Questions?

[Anonymous]

Is anyone familiar with the changes that were made from year-to year on the chugger units in Lionel's 392E's - especially in the earlier production years?

What year did the chugger unit appear in the 392E?

Did the chugger units always have on-off switches?

Were the chugger unit's on-off switches always mounted with the lever sticking through a slot in inside the cab? If not, then where else were they mounted?

When - and in what versions of - the 392E did Lionel stop including chugger units?

Thanks,
Doug

[Anonymous]

Anyone?

[1688torpedo]

Hello Doug - The Chugger Units were not very reliable & are very tempermental at best. Lionel came out with the chuggers in 1933 & had them for a couple of years until they developed their Air Whistle in 1935 at which time the Chuggers were discontinued. If your unit is not working I would suggest that you contact Dr.Tinker's Toy Train Part's Website & see if he can help you out with this as parts may be hard to get & he should be able to help you out here. Take Care.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 1688torpedo

Hello Doug - The Chugger Units were not very reliable & are very tempermental at best. Lionel came out with the chuggers in 1929 & had them for a few years until they developed their Air Whistle in 1935 at which time the Chuggers were discontinued. If your unit is not working I would suggest that you contact Dr.Tinker's Toy Train Part's Website & see if he can help you out with this as parts may be hard to get & he should be able to help you out here. Take Care.

What I've got is an early 392E with a bit of an oddball setup and I'm trying to return it to it's correct original state - if I can find out what that is.

It doesn’t have a chugger unit now and I'm not sure if it's supposed to have one or not. (There's no slot in the cab for a chugger switch, so if ALL chugger-equipped 392E's had on-off switches AND the switches were all installed inside the cab, then I can rule out it's having a chugger.)
The shell assembly (frame, steam chests, boiler, cab, & trim) appears to be all original and it's painted black with copper & brass trim.
The internal parts don't seem to match the shell though. It's also got a (later type?) of Bild-A-Loco motor with a top mounted E-unit (though the lever has been cut off short because there's no slot in the top of the boiler for it to go).

Anyway, if this tells you anything, then I'd appreciate any additional insight you might have about it...

Thanks again,
Doug

PS: The engine appears to be original and is in really nice shape. When I bought it, it came with a 392T that had obviously been repainted. The tender has the aluminum side plates with red background, so I'm guessing it was originally a gray one and didn't originally come with this engine. I could be mistaken though, but I can't imagine why the original tender would have needed repainting if the engine was in such good shape.

[1688torpedo]

Hello Doug! Sounds like your 392E was put together from a group of parts & is not original in any way. Especially if the E-unit lever is cut short then this is a indication that this engine was most likely a Home made version & not a original as they came from the factory. If, it originally had a Chugger then there should be a slot in the rear of the cab for the on/off lever. A previous owner must have modified this engine with parts from another 392E in similar condition to create what you've got now. This would be my guess as to how this engine is in the condition you found it. A better solution for you may be to have Dr.Tinker install a Whistle unit in the Tender for you so that you can have some type of sound for your 392E. A Chugger unit may not be the best bet for you as they are not dependable & parts are most likely expensive to put one together for your engine. As a matter of fact Chugger parts would be hard to get as they were only made for a short time & there is no guarantee that a Chugger could be made to work properly for you. As stated above I feel that a Whistle unit in the tender would be far better for you than a Chugger unit in the long run & you have nothing to lose as the engine has been modified anyway. Hope this helps. Take Care.