Restoring old Lionel Trains

[Railfan1588]

Hi,
since I am new are restoring old toy trains, I have several questions dealing with restoring Lionel prewar cars. Recently, I received some banged up Lionel prewar cars from a friend of mine. These cars, are an 806 cattle car, an 803 hopper car, and an severals 902 gondolas. So far, the only work I have done to them, is glass beaded them, gave each car a coat of Lacquer Thinner, and filled in the small cracks and dings on the bodies of the cars with car body putty. The first question I have, what would be a good way to clean and poli***he brass parts, such as ladders, num. plates, ect to where they look like new Also, how would I go about cleaning the dirty wheels, and couplers? Since I don't know a lot about these cars, I was wondering if someone could refer me to a book that gives information on the various paint schemes these cars came in, so I know what paints to buy when it comes to painting these cars. Also, I'll probably need a good book that gives a parts diagram for these cars, since it is obvious that I am missing some certain detail parts for these cars. Any information would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nicholas

[ben10ben]

For polishing metal trim parts, I like to use a felt polishing wheel on my dremel tool along with some polishing compound. Just run the tool fairly fast(around 15,000 RPMs) and keep plenty of compound on the wheel.

Wheels clean up quite well using a steel brush in a dremel tool run about 12,000-14,000 RPMs. If your couplers are rusty, steel wool works wonders. If not, the felt wheel and polishing compound will again do the trick.

For any parts that were originally black, you can get something like the original finish using gun blue. Remove the old stuff with steel wool, wipe some gun blue on, let it sit, wipe it off, and cover it with a very, very small amount of 3-in-1 oil.

[Jumijo]

You might also want to have knowledge of what you're doing before you start dismantling and stripping the paint off of trains that old. From your post, you don't seem to know very many basic elements of old train restoration. Your questions are good ones but I'd have asked them and many, many more way before I started stripping paint off of them.

[SPFan]

For color schemes go to http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/. Follow the links for the "Library" for the item you are looking for. Most pre war items have a table of paint schemes they came in. Charles Wood <[e-mail]> has a color match for virtually every pre war color.

Pete

[csxt30]

This may help with postwar Lionel, for color schemes & decaling. http://www.postwarlionel.com/static/lionel1.gif. Thanks, John

[Railfan1588]

Jaabat,
before I attempted stripping the paint off the cars, I did talk to several Lionel collectors on what woulod be the best way to strip the paint off. From I learned, glass beading is a good way to strip the paint off, and I did have satisfactory results. Also, I used lacquer thinner to remove the thin film that is left over from glass beading. I have been trying to think of any questions I have on how to do this or that, but if I have anymore, I will make sure to post them before I attempt it.

Also, what kind of specific polishing compound should I use to polish brass parts such as the ladders and num. plates? Would I need a different kind of compound to do nickel parts?

Even though I did go over the wheels with a steel brush, I was wondering if I could use some type of poli***o bring the bright shine back to the nickel wheels.?

Thanks for the help so far guys on this subject. I greatly appreciate it.

[Railfan1588]

SPFan,
the library pages on the Olsen toy train parts was perfect for what I needed. The only problem is, I'm not able to print off the diagrams.
Nick

[3railguy]

I have had good success using a rock tumbler for cleaning brass and nickle parts. Harbor Freight Tools sells a decent one for hobbyists.

[SPFan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Railfan1588

SPFan,
the library pages on the Olsen toy train parts was perfect for what I needed. The only problem is, I'm not able to print off the diagrams.
Nick

They make it difficult but not impossible. You can do a "screen dump" by hitting Alt- Print Screen then pasting it into a word processor. Not the best quality but it will be readable. As for metal polish, most any commercial polish will work on all these metals, Wenol, Simichrome, Flitz, etc. If you plan to clear coat the parts after polishing clean the parts in lacquer thinner or soap and water, drying immediately. The polish leaves a film to retard further oxidation that will prevent the clear coat from bonding.

Pete

[ben10ben]

The polishing compound I use is the standard red stuff that comes packaged with the Dremel polishing kit. I've found it to be quite effective on brass, nickel, tin, and cadmium platings, and have always gotten a bright shine when using it on these materials.

[Railfan1588]

SPfan,
could you go into more detail on how to print a picture off, I'm not exactly sure what you meant by Alt-Print Screen. Also, what it is a clear coat? Would it be a good idea to put a clear coat on from keeping the brass from tarnishing?
Nick

[SPFan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Railfan1588

SPfan,
could you go into more detail on how to print a picture off, I'm not exactly sure what you meant by Alt-Print Screen. Also, what it is a clear coat? Would it be a good idea to put a clear coat on from keeping the brass from tarnishing?
Nick

Nick,
I am assuming you are using an Intel computer, not a MAC. "Alt" and "Print Screen" ate two keys on your keyboard. Press Alt then Print screen while holding down alt to capture a screen image to the clipboard. Now you can paste it into any application.
Pete

[samplingman]

I have a question about the nickel and brass trim. So these pieces aren't plated? These can actually be polished back to original luster? Were they clear coated originally, or is that something that is done after a restoration?