Looking for Help IDing Old Lionel Set

Noticed you are from Lansdale, PA.  Go to Hennings Trains in Lansdale.  They can tell you!!  They are great people and know pre war trains.  Can't believe I was just there this morning!  

I have this set but unfortunately without the rheostat and box .  The set consists of the 153 electric engine with a 629 Pullman car and a 630 Observation car.  The set is fairly common even though it was only produced in 1924 and 1925.  I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but your friend's engine and Observation car appear to be in Very Good to perhaps excellent condition.  Without the box and rheostat the Engine and two cars would probably be valued somewhere between $125 to $150.  With the box and rheostat included the complete set would obviously be worth more but I really can't hazard a guess.  Hope this helps. 

Lionel pre-war set #94

found it here

According to the info I found here, it was produced in 1925 only. That's all I know about it.

Guys, thanks so much for the quick responses.  I'm sure my buddy will be pleased to have the information about this set.  Personally, I had never seen anything like it before so it's great to have a responsive resource like all of you.

Ron,

Henning's is one of the best places to take something for repair/restoration/maintenance if you or your friend isn't completely equipped to do it.  I took my American Flyer 350 Royal Blue engine there when what was needed was beyond my knowledge.

A couple weeks later, she was back and it ran probably better than when it left the factory in 1947 or 1948!

FrankfordJunction,

          The box may be stained but it appears totally intact and that by itself will increase the value of this set.  Your friend's 153 engine is in great condition.  It still has that almost like new sheen to it.  Normally a 153 engine in excellent condition might go for about $110 but this one would probably go higher because it barely has a scratch on it; that is at least for the side you showed us.

That is a beautiful set. Your friend is very lucky!

Thanks for the comment Michael.  I'll let him know how lucky he is.  Although, I think he already suspects this is something special.

quote:

C_W, I don't think he's considering repaint or anything close to that but wants to get it running and straighten out some bent couplers, etc.  He wants to run it for his grandkids.

That sounds great!

I have the Lionel 153 locomotive and it is a strong runner. I run it with 607 and 608 cars.

  I bet there are quite a few repaint owners that would happily trade for than set as is!

Very nice. An overall maintenance & lube session would be wise I'd think. Even if its a fixed post type variable vs wiper type, if its a noisy unit, taking the transformer cover off to inspect it for wire insulation wear, is likely due(vibrations making noise wear wires touching things). A noisy, wiper, or roller unit should be checked on more often.  

While a more modern one might be safer, if the transformers cord appears nice, and flexible, its likely fine to use. Esp. if he has some common sense about unplugging, leaving to run unattended, don't let the kids teeth on it, etc. . But I would also at least add fuses to the transformer before the rheostat/track, and use a power plug strip with an 8-10a breaker on it. 

Great advice, Adriatic.  Thank you.  I'll work with him to do things correctly.  He has a nice piece, I know.

Thank You.

Ron

I need one of those battery rheostats for power outages.

I've done it from a car battery & just controlled speed by lots of cast cars, and some diodes. 

I should have asked really: Which transformer does he actually have?

Note: Early transformers may put out more voltage than you would want to apply to modern electronics, or even old trains. In some cases more than you want to expose yourself to really. Poorly matched high voltage items were sold. But good alternatives such as Jefferson were out there too.

 A mild example is the early lionel "letter series" like the V or Z (no w) puts out closer to 25v, a bit much for 100% throttle on command units.

(that 5v often got "ate" by the external whistles, & accessories sold with these premium items, dropping no load voltages at the track to 15-20v.)  

 My oldest transformers now are an old Jefferson Midget- Post Type #?- pre-war Z- and two 100w output pre-war MARX. They all run cool as, and quiet, or quieter as the 6 post war I have.

Adriatic,

I know it was a Jefferson transformer and I thought I saw 18V on the box or instruction sheet (may be wrong about that).  I don't have any model letters off the transformer.  Next visit, I'll have him drag the set out so we can get a closer look.

William,

I like all of your suggestions.  I'm an engineer by training and a gear head and computer geek by avocation, so crawling around and getting my hands dirty aren't objectionable. I'll help Russ however he wants.  He always has beverages there.

I think next visit, I'll drag a multimeter with me, plug that old transformer in and see if any sparks fly and, if it works, what voltage it puts out.  Then, if all seems good, oil old #153, throw the engine on the tracks and see if it runs.  As he's saving it for posterity, Russ may still want a professional to examine it.  That seems prudent to me.

Cheers,

Ron

Too much caution, can be boring

 Run um if ya got um!

Clean nails, overrated.

 This set reminded me of a set at a Great Aunts in Elyria Oh. I don't know I ever saw it run at the moment, but she showed it to me a bunch of times while watching me.

 The house was a well maintained time warp to the 30s & 40s at best. Gas lamps still on the walls & exposed cloth electrical wire too. A dark & warm place smelling of candle wax, and ozone as I played with her tins. 

 There were so many cool tin toys there! A small rollercoaster with a motorized lift on the "big hill" was the fav, I could play with freely. But a motorized magnetic highway was cool too.(it actually reminds me of the vintage "Lionel display layout" with the working, elevated highway. When I first saw the Lionel layout, I thought it was that toy)     

 Jefferson made good units, they produced industrial transformers too.

  A very fun, but very rare one, is a "red brick" paper, on paper-pulp press-board to form a powerhouse. They look darn near homemade on the outside. Like a thick shoebox with brick wrapping paper on it. They have a light fixture above the grey, industrial looking door. It comes on when the power is turned on. I've seen 3, but I've never seen one with an original roof, nor had any two owners I spoke with. Actually they didn't even know what they had name wise.   

  The old stuff is fine at 25v. Even postwar really. Only the new 18volt electronics, used on the old 20+volt transformers are a concern. Just keep the voltage at 18v if command trains are ever there .

Adriatic, 

Nice story.  I reading those stories of time past.  I didn't recognize any of those old tin toys.  They sound really cool. If you had them today.. well.  The only tin plate toy I remember in our house was a wind up motorcycle with a rider.  The cycle ran, stopped and the rider got off, then back on and off he went.  Pretty neat.  Most of my toys were the ones you played with outside; balls, bats, cowboy paraphernalia, army stuff... Indoors, at Christmas it was my Lionel set that I actually tried to destroy by running the loco off the end of our "platform".  Dad fixed that by screwing a wall of masonite at the end of the platform so the loco couldn't get into flight.  :-)  Thanks to him, I still have that set.. well, my son has it.  Great memories.

Ron