Best Repair manual for Modern era trains

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am interested in getting a repair manual which covers modern era trains >. Lionel> MTH>etc. anyone have any suggestions and where I can pick up one??

Thanks J.R.

[wrmcclellan]

J.R.

Welcome to the forum!

You can download PDFs of many of the Lionel exploded diagrams from Lionel's web site.

Go here and click on "Download complete PDF supplements" drop down menu bar.

http://www.lionel.com/CustomerService/Findex.cfm

There are 47 supplements starting in 1970. Be aware that the files are quite large and may be difficult if you do not have access to a broadband connection. For example, Supplement 1-9 is 71 MB (the largest of all the supplements) and goes from 1970 through 1986.

At this time the supplements go through about end of 2003. The supplements do not always have all products (i.e. some special runs and special releases) and you need to be able to match similar products to those actually detailed in the supplements.

I forgot to mention you can also look at the Table of Contents of each supplement using the "Choose a supplement" drop down toolbar. This is faster then downloading an entire supplement, but not always useful as the years of manufacture are not referenced as one sees on the first page of each supplement.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Roy

[Big_Boy_4005]

I have hard copies of the Lionel manuals that Roy mentioned, with the suppliments up through the early 90's. Compared to the postwar version, it is tricky to locate what you want in them, and you need to have some intuition as to similar items, when they aren't specificly listed.

Of course this only covers Lionel. Do the other manufacturers even have compiled lists? I've never seen any.

My only experience with non-Lionel parts came with a K-line double stack car I purchased used. The truck mounting screw had sheared off, and was a specialty shoulder screw. If I recall, the list of parts was on an instruction sheet which was in the box. I fired off an email to K-line, requesting the part. A small envelope arrived a few days later. In it, were 3 different screws. None were an exact match to the broken screw. With a little tinkering I was able to get one of them to work.

Lionel has always had a large service network, though indications are, that it is shrinking. The other manufacturers seem to either rely on their dealers, or work directly with customers. Mechanical problems can still be repaired fairly easily. My understanding is that, electronic problems are dealt with by replacing entire modules, if the problem can be diagnosed easily. If not, it's back to the factory.

[Bob Keller]

I believe that all or most of MTH's manuals are also available as PDFs from mth-railking.com.

[spankybird]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ogaugeoverlord

I believe that all or most of MTH's manuals are also available as PDFs from mth-railking.com.

If they ever get that part of their web site working again. [:(] That part of it has been down for a couple of weeks. [V] Along with the shipping and product locator. [V][:(]