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OLD (First Ever) OOO Gauge Electric Lone Star F7 to be saved!! to be re-paint into something special, Plans

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  • Member since
    September 2017
  • 95 posts
Posted by Safety Valve on Saturday, September 7, 2019 2:29 PM

Thanks for all the Replys! I have gotten the motor installed, unfortunatly for me I cut the drive axle the wrong way round with the blank side being cut and the Side with the TV surpressure part of the drive mechinism which is intact is backwards facing the rear of the model, so the wires will have to be reversed for the model to go forward (Which they have been, However I have a feeling I may be able to improve on the finnicky (from Experiance) design of the unit slightly) I ordered some New Drive Bands from eBay that were brand new (They were some kind of sleves but 10 mil in diameter) Plus I have a new (vintage) wheel set as well, What I may do is I may re-do the wheels that pop into the main rear drive and I could switch them out for some nickle silver ones, not sure by whome though, (Hoping then the F unit will be able to run on Modern Track) plus the brushes have come out so I will probably run a de-chromed paper clip from the contacts to the brushes when I get them back together, after they have been cleaned Wink

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Duluth, MN
  • 424 posts
Posted by OT Dean on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 1:04 AM

rrinker

 I dunno, why would anyone run pre-war Lionel, which is even older? Or early Varney HO? Or HP TT? There's a certain fascination for where we came from, at least for soome of us. When it was in RMC, the first column I always turned to was Keith Wills' Heritage Fleet column. I was glad MR picked him up when RMC was in trouble. 

 I'm not going to make my layout with such old equipment, but I have a few older pieces which I have no intention of getting rid of, perhaps I'll have room for a small loop where I can run the vintage equiipment. At the very least I will continue to read about it, read old catalogs, etc. I've looked through lots of the old catalogs on HOSEEKER, just because. 

                             --Randy

 

 

You're right, Randy: as we get older Nostalgia kicks in for sure.  Even when I was a kid, I had little regard for Marx train stuff, prefering Lionel, which in turn fell out of favor with me because of the 3-rail track.  Some years back, I saw a segment on PBS's "Tracks Ahead" about the new owners bringing back the favored Marx equipment and suddenly felt myself remembering all those Christmastime trains running in toy departments of all the department stores.  Took me back to the innocent days again, 3-rail or not, lithographed bodies or not!

Deano

  • Member since
    September 2017
  • 95 posts
Posted by Safety Valve on Tuesday, September 3, 2019 2:56 PM

That is awesome!! I think the comoany started out in the fifties producing model Railway stuff, and to answer an earlier question I love lone star because of its simplicity, the fact you can service it, and the fact its rubber band drive, plus I Love antiques!! Big Smile 

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, September 3, 2019 6:55 AM

mobilman44
If its an F7, it can't be that old......

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I believe OOO scale was introduced in the 1960s. The first prototype F7 was built by EMD in the late 1940s, so an F7 could date to the very beginning of OOO scale, and be considered very old in that context.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Friday, August 30, 2019 12:47 PM

Lone
                           Star F7

I had a few of these that pulled New Haven coaches. They are made out of metal, not plastic and are quite weighty. Everything was metal, my boxes are quite heavy. The stuff gave me endless hours of enjoyment and ran trouble-free for years. I am glad we are where we are in the hobby now though.

I also had one of these.

Image result for Lonestar treble Ohttp://tycotrain.tripod.com/n-scale-resource/index.html

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 5,449 posts
Posted by mobilman44 on Friday, August 30, 2019 5:42 AM

If its an F7, it can't be that old.............

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Thursday, August 29, 2019 8:02 PM

 I dunno, why would anyone run pre-war Lionel, which is even older? Or early Varney HO? Or HP TT? There's a certain fascination for where we came from, at least for soome of us. When it was in RMC, the first column I always turned to was Keith Wills' Heritage Fleet column. I was glad MR picked him up when RMC was in trouble. 

 I'm not going to make my layout with such old equipment, but I have a few older pieces which I have no intention of getting rid of, perhaps I'll have room for a small loop where I can run the vintage equiipment. At the very least I will continue to read about it, read old catalogs, etc. I've looked through lots of the old catalogs on HOSEEKER, just because. 

                             --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Thursday, August 29, 2019 5:22 PM

I have two boxes of Lone Star Treble O that I got as a wee lad in the early 60s. I have enough track to do justice to a 5' x 10' sheet of plywood. That being said the stuff is junk by today's standards and anything plastic is so brittle it would be an effort in frustration to try and use it. The motor in the 0-8-0 had bakelite as part of its construction and just disintegrated from old age. I would think any motor for sale on Ebay would not be much better. 

I also have some of the electric switches that have never been used and suspect they would also fall apart if powered up. 

I got it all out and set up about 12 years ago and was offered $500.00 for the lot by a collector at that time, I should have taken it.Dunce

What is your fascination with this blast from the past? It is very crude antique stuff that I may display if I ever get space to do so, but trying to play with it is a non-starter for what I have.

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, August 29, 2019 4:47 PM

Please post pictures if you can.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    September 2017
  • 95 posts
OLD (First Ever) OOO Gauge Electric Lone Star F7 to be saved!! to be re-paint into something special, Plans
Posted by Safety Valve on Thursday, August 29, 2019 4:08 PM

Hello! Its been a few weeks, however I have recently purchased another Lone Star Treble O Lectric locomotive in another set that is in more worse off condition then the last one to fix up my old one with (The First One), the old one has a dummy front bogie, the rear bogie will be powered, that me an a Friend used superglue and baking soda to fix the peice on, it still needs a tad bit of work, but what came in the lot is amazing!! Another Electric F7 with all the parts I need to fix up the old one with, (A New (Very Much Used) Motor! and wheels! plus a quite a bit of Track!) The Train set I plan to re-paint into the RHX and RLX sets by Tri-ang as I wanted a miniturized sets for a while! Big Smile  just need to get tamiya paints and drive bands which I will get from Amazon and eBay respectivly in that order Wink

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