Lionel 736 Berkshire with 2046 Tender

[ezmike]

This one caught my eye but the photo (first one on right) caught my eye. Is there something wrong with the catcher?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lionel-736-2-8-4-Berkshire-w-2046W-Tender_W0QQitemZ270123151584QQihZ017QQcategoryZ4146QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Anonymous]

  I've seen plenty of engines like this. The pilots on many locomotives were, I believe, chemicaly blackened. This results in them aging differently than the painted boiler. Why some are more pronounced than others is beyond me.

[DMUinCT]

For what it's worth: 

Looks like a clean 736 from 1953 to 1955 (die-cast trailing truck).

Wheels and Pilots were "blackened, not painted, and appear to the eye as a lighter black. To the Digital Camera, it often "over corrects" and photographs gray, as in only one of the photos.

However, the Lionel Catalog show the tender marked "Lionel Lines".  According to the catalog, only the 681 got the "Penn." tender top. A buyer should get in writing that it is an original. 

 

[cwburfle]

I've seen many engines with discolored steam chest / cowcatcher assemblies. They can be any color between black and light grey. Sometimes they even turn up with a green tinge.

Were I looking for a Berkshire, I would assume that that one does have a light grey steam chest, and bid accordingly (or choose not to).

As far as I know, there isn't any way to reblacken it at home. Some folks say that gun black will blacken Zamac, but I have never had any luck with it. I beleive there are chemicals designed specifically for blackening Zamac, but I haven't been able to locate any in small quantities.

[Jumijo]

MicroMark makes a blackening solution that will blacken most metals. I've used it on die cast shells and it worked. You might want to try that if you win this auction.

Jim 

[ezmike]

Thanks guys, seller says its the flash from the camera and the angle of the shot. When I looked at the head-on photo it looks less gray and more black.

For what its worth, I took a pass on this one.

Mike

[trigtrax]

Good thing. That steam chest is a repro. Spin cast in a rubber mold. You can reblacken unpainted cast parts with "Tool Black" available from MSCdirect.com. After dipping the part needs to be lightly coated with oil. ( some folks use car wax )

[Jumijo]

Good thing. That steam chest is a repro. Spin cast in a rubber mold. You can reblacken unpainted cast parts with "Tool Black" available from MSCdirect.com. After dipping the part needs to be lightly coated with oil. ( some folks use car wax )

How can you tell it's a repro?

Jim 

[trigtrax]

The casting lacks the definition of a die cast piece. There was a dude on Long Island, who's since passed on, that used to repro steamchests, boiler fronts and other similar postwar parts.

The process involves squeezing the part between 2 rubber disks in a heated vulcanizing press. The discs then rotate at high speed in a spin caster and molten zinc is poured in the center. Spin casting repros are slightly smaller and show the effects of a lower casting pressure.

Based on the photo of the "cow catcher" It looks like a spun cast part.

[Anonymous]

  Looks like the tender shell was a repro as well.

[Anonymous]

trigtrax,

            Is Bill Vagell the guy you referred to?

[trigtrax]

No, It was someone else. These parts were not reproed to fool anyone or be passed off as originals. Many people would buy runners with steps or running light mountings broken and would put the replacements on for their own use.

I've been away from shows for a long time, I read about my friends passing in the TCA publication. I really don't want to reveal his name..

[ezmike]

Just a follow up. Didn't sell at $249, re-listed with new photos and sold with only 1 bid at $225.