MTH 6-86 #6200 Turbine. Need quick advice.

I;m not up on the modern stuff, but you might consider a 671 like this one,and tenders can usually be had fairly cheap too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel...;hash=item1e9f1e7271

Yeah, I'd rather have that one, bit all I can spend for the next month or so is $79, so I'm stuck. It's that MTH or nothing, unless someone on the board replies to my "want to buy" post.

 Really only depend if it is worth it to you. i have several of these engines and PS 2 5 volt boards where in these older engines, and the 5 volt boards were know to fail quite frequently. you also must have the tender to make it work again. the engine has the 5 volt boards in it, but the power is picked up in the tender and engine. you can convert it to PS 2 3 volt boards if the kits are still available but might be hard to find and were available I believe for $180 plus install fee.Depends do you want to invest in 180.00 plus find the tender somewhere and don't know what the would cost, plus your purchase fee of $75.00 so now you would have invested $250.00 plus shipping both ways to the repair person and then pay to send it back. If you purchase the kit IF YOU CAN FIND ONE then you would save, but the PS 2 3volt board is guarantee only if MTH ASC tech installs the kit, it is not guaranteed if you install the kit. i have the same turbine engine with the same PS 2 5 volt board failure so i put a PS 2 3 volt boards in mine but I've been into electronics my whole life. let me know if your interested i would gladly repair it if you think it is worth that much to repair it. It's totally up to you!

Either way let me know what you decide

Alan

p.s one of the mth item number for this engine is 30-4037-1 which is a PS 2 5 volt 6200 steam engine

watch the sell board here, and the bay. Prices are all over the place. I've been watching Postwar Hudsons for a few months now. Anywhere from engines by themselves needing resto at $50 to nice ones for over $300. Seen auctions with tenders,without,with or with out boxes. I saw several for just the engine itself for more than ones with the tender and or boxes. I grabbed one this morning for $60. Be patient, and you'll find a deal.

This is just a suggestion.  On your earlier post you noted that you are also looking for a few other items in the $80.00 range including a set of passenger cars.  why not wait for the other items and use those funds to pick up a nice solid Lionel 671, 681, or 2020 with a working whistle tender, you should be able to get a good running set for around $150.00. You can then pull whatever cars you have until you build up enough funds to get a set of passenger cars.  You might regret buying something on the cheap that could end up costing you more or even end up being a parts engine.  Just a though.

Good luck to you and I hope you find what you want.

Nick

Pretty sure that the boards are in that engine, the only thing in the tender is the speaker and battery.

 I guess the big question would be, will the train function without the new board (if it needs one)? I'd fine fine with it as long as it ran, smoked, and the light worked. If so, it would do everything I would expect from the old Lionel turbines, since they didn't have sound anyway.

yes your correct the boards are in the engine but as i stated earlier it has ps2 5 volt boards and were know to fail, so you wound have to replace the PS 2 3volt boards and then the engine would run but you still need the tender, maybe you could get a tender cheap maybe not hard to say! as i also stated the kits to install are $180.00,

send me a email with your phone number and I'll call you and discuss your options!

Alan

That's what I was thinking based on some photos I saw, but there may be more to it than that. If that's all it is, then it wouldn't be hard to reproduce that in another tender.

OK. After hearing the issues, I think I've given up on this engine. I don't have that much money to invest in repairing it and finding a tender.

I just want to thank everyone for the replies. My search for a 6-8-6 turbine continues and hopefully I dodged a bullet thanks to the advice here.