Battery Mess

[Anonymous]

After my father's death, I inherited his collection of 1950s model railroading trains and equipment.  One of his prized possessions was a Santa Fe passenger train set by Lionel.  It has the 2343P, 2343T and 2343C engine combination and five passenger cars.  After being boxed and unused for more than 40 years, I recently opened this set and the other trains I inherited.  The Santa Fe set was just as I remembered and is in great condition, EXCEPT, my father forgot to remove the battery from the 2343P engine when he last packed the trains away.  Needless to say, the 2343P is a mess where the battery compartment is.  Does anyone out there know if this unit is salvageable?  Is there anyway I can remove the battery (which is now unrecognizable) and restore the unit or is this just a permanently ruined engine that I should throw away? Help!

[msacco]

Has the leakage/damage stayed inside the unit.  If so it's should be an internal restoration and new battery brackets and relays and horns can be had from parts dealers. I've seen some damage that has leaked to the outer parts of the diecast body and has ruined the paint on the base of the unit. Hopefully that's not the case.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply.  Most of the damage is contained inside but there is some minor damage to the exterior diecast. 

[chuck]

You can get it cleaned up and the damaged parts replaced.  Are these the original boxes?  They may be worth as much as the train

[daan]

Remove the shell and the motors, unsolder the wires and take everything apart as far as possible. Then take a toothbrush, and some soapy water and clean, clean, clean.

The bracket for the battery, the relais etc can be replaced, but the shell and diecast frame are difficult to get. Also try to clean the shell inside.

Then rewire the engine, overhaul the motors and place the new relais, horn etc, whatever you need to get it right. It's a very sturdy engine and the technics are not that difficult, so if you have a photocamera and take pictures whil taking it apart, you can rebuild your engine by those pictures.

My F3 also had battery damage, but the visible part after it had been cleaned and rebuild was almost nothing. Still works like a champ.

[phillyreading]

Remove the shell and the motors, unsolder the wires and take everything apart as far as possible. Then take a toothbrush, and some soapy water and clean, clean, clean.

The bracket for the battery, the relais etc can be replaced, but the shell and diecast frame are difficult to get. Also try to clean the shell inside.

Then rewire the engine, overhaul the motors and place the new relais, horn etc, whatever you need to get it right. It's a very sturdy engine and the technics are not that difficult, so if you have a photocamera and take pictures whil taking it apart, you can rebuild your engine by those pictures.

My F3 also had battery damage, but the visible part after it had been cleaned and rebuild was almost nothing. Still works like a champ.

I agree with the cleaning methods except you forgot to use baking soda & water to nuetralize any battery acid that is left over from the battery, then rinse with water. This will prevent further damage by the battery, I used to work with car batteries a lot.

Lee F.

[Anonymous]

Phillyreading raises an interesting point, but I doubt that the battery in a Lionel locomotive was of the lead-acid type used in cars. Baking soda may or may not be appropriate.

If you can identify the battery you might call the manufacturer. If not, you might call Everyready, Duracell, Ray-0-Vac, etc and see what they recommend. The battery quite possibly predates the alkaline types that are widely used today.

You can also do a search on Google under "battery leak" or the like. I don't think this is a HazMat  case, but I would check it out just to be sure that the "cure" is not worse than the disease. You want to get things clean and neutralized, with minimal damage to paint, etc.

[phillyreading]

From working with batteries in general baking soda will nuetralize any battery fluid, wait until it stops foaming to rinse away, sometimes a scond application is needed for heavy build-up of acid and corrosion.  After using baking soda you must rinse good and repaint with an anti-rust paint for the paint to last.  Make sure the surface to be painted  is dry before painting.  Another thing about baking soda; it is cheap to buy and safe to use(baking soda is a kitchen item) and can be bought at any grocery store or super Wal-Mart or super Target store.

Lee F.

[ben10ben]

Lee,

Alkaline-manganese and Carbon-zinc batteries both have basic electrolytes. In carbon-zinc batteries, the electrolyte is a mixture of zinc chloride and ammonium chloride, while in alkaline batteries, it's potassium hydroxide(a lot like household lye, sodium hydroxide).  Because of this, baking soda(sodium bicarbonate, a base) won't do anything to neutralize the remaining electrolyte.

For this reason, it's best to use distilled white vinegar to neutralize the excess electrolyte. 

You can use baking soda with car batteries because they use sulfuric acid as an electrolyte.  

 

[Anonymous]

Basically, what Ben said was the you use acids to clean up bases, and bases to clean up acids. Vinegar is slightly acidic, and it will clean up the electolyte mess in you F-3 very nicely!

If you need any help cleaning it up, just email me