Post 59 2/3/2020
New Engine - Lionel 561, 0-8-0 Switcher
It is a new year, 2020, and the high scoring LSU football Tigers are the new National Champs in NCAA football for 2019 season. None of us saw this 15-0 season coming and all the awards many players received including the Heisman for QB Joe Burrow. Who would have thought that getting a NO Saints Asst. coach to put in a 5 receivers passing attack and a graduate transfer QB (he said before the season they would score 40 or 50 are maybe 60 points some games) would be this good, with some saying it was the GOAT team (Greatest Of All Time). Trains have been on the back burners the last two months.
I recently picked up a Lionel 561, 0-8-0 engine and coal tender on eBay. It came with a detached head light and a loose step from the coal tender, broken in shipping, and I was fairly compensated by the seller and both parts were JB Welded back on. The whistle does not work in the Coal Tender but it may be the diodes in my LW transformers. I was looking for a Lionel 0-6-0 switcher but found this at a bargain. I have had a couple 0-4-0 switchers for several years.
The 561, 0-8-0 has been derailing on a 5 or so of my 29 Marx 1590 switches. The derailments seem to occur when going into the curve on the switch. I believe the issue of derailing on real trains lead to putting a pair or more wheels in front of the driving wheels or make this a 2-8-0 engine. I have fixed most of them by bending the frog flange to be closer to the rail. My 2-8-4 Lionel Berkshire 756 runs through the Marx 1590s switches without issues.
I bent the curved rail end to the left shown below. The part bent is on the bottom of picture and touches the straight outside rail on the bottom.
The 0-8-0, 561 comes with a dummy front coupling. I had a Lionel truck with an operating coupler that had a cracked frame. I cut the operating coupling off the frame and installed it in place of the dummy coupling. It was an easy job. I like my switchers to have operating couplers in rear and front. The 561 is a good switcher and runs very slow with a DC motor and good electronic reversing e-unit.
Its Coal Tender is boxy, and has a raised part of the coal tender.
The picture above is shot of Lionel 561, 0-8-0 and tender with a sneak preview of the new homemade Life Savers tank car coming soon.
Charlie
