Steve,
Welcome to the Forum, I have two post war Lionel engines the Lackawanna Trainmaster from 1955 and a steam engine from the same mid-50's period. I received the Trainmaster from my dad as a Christmas present in 1955, both engines run perfectly with light maintenance, easy to disassemble. I will give you a couple of helpful tips, first when removing screws during disassembly screw them into the part with the mounting holes and second use a blank piece of paper and pencil to make a sketch of the assembly before disassembly this will help you put it back together. What is amazing was the ingenuity and quality of the Lionel Corporation engineering and manufacturing in making the Post War series locomotives, both steam and diesel. The Lionel 773 is a prime example of this Lionel standard.
