At the Train Collectors Association meeting in York Pennsylvania last year towards the end of the show as traders and collectors are keen to clear their tables and take the minimum back home, I found a shoe box with three very dilapidated and rusty 1930’s Lionel electric outline locos.
The wheels were in poor shape and the locos were held together with dozens of elastic bands. The good thing was that all the brass and nickel fixtures and fittings were there and these are very difficult to find. The trader was willing to accept $100 for the three (about £60 then). These are very heavy and sturdy locos with steel bodies and I thought I would have some enjoyment bringing them back to life but not trying to make a like new renovation but make them look smart and run well.
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The wheels has some major casting decay but they were sturdy and had nickel tyres so had held together well, so I cleaned them then filled in the gaps with a metal epoxy which is almost as strong as the original casting
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I used a wheel puller to pull the wheels off the axles, these can be purchased for about £12
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Next I made a crude lathe with an electric drill and sanded down the epoxy filler near to the original shape and cleaned up the wheels
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The nice heavy chassis was de rusted and cleaned up and painted
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The body had about 3 coats of paint over the years and this took a number of treatments with paint stripper to remove a messy job I don’t use an expensive branded product for this just something bought on line , the picture shows just before the remains of the first original coat was removed
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After careful degreasing and cleaning a coat of primer was sprayed on the body. By the way I buy all my spray paint on line much cheaper than the usual outlets for spray paint
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I had removed carefully all the brass and nickel fittings and embellishments together with what remained of any wiring. All these need laborious polishing with Brasso. The reverse unit and switch need cleaning and minor repairs and rewiring of the whole loco.
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The repaired reverse unit and switch was fitted back in the motor assembly
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Next the whole assembly was fitted back into the chassis with all the embellishments
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A new top coat of deep blue was sprayed on from an old part used can I found
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Hey Presto! One smart looking Lionel 259E loco after a very fiddly job of fitting all the brass pieces back on the body and connecting up the headlamp
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The Lionel 253 loco from the same batch that I had renovated earlier
The whole job was done using material that I had in the workshop the renovation cost nothing but my labour and some patience. If anyone wants any further information I can be contacted via email on this web site.
Bryan Pentland
