"The Lionel Classic set was very nice but the loco's cast parts tended to suffer from zinc pest so be extremely vigilant with those."
My wife bought me one of these back in 1992. I ran the daylights out of it on a garden railroad that we had (Gargrave Stainless Steel track). I put enough wear on it that i had to overhaul it (new bushing and idler gears).
About a dozen years ago, I noticed that the gap between the smokebox door and the boiler was increasing at the bottom and the frame was bowed down. I purchased a replacement frame from MTH and had it painted by a local person who painted motorcycles. That frame is still ok for the time being
