I'd rather be ice fishing posted:Despite what the original helpful poster experienced doors are no longer available from lionel and that is the whole problem to me. Keep in mind I don't know o-scale and im learning parts are not available like I thought they would be. Which amazes me considering how much these cost. How can you say this is not on lionel? None of my old corgis have fallen apart from zinc rot...im now watching the front steam tubes doing something bad as the paint is cracking up on them. So if its ok that an expensive engine like this is a allowed to crumble into dust after 12 years count me out of any future lionel engines..if its a fluke well then that's ok. I started this with a legitimate question on whether anyone would likely be making any parts for these in future as I don't know this scale well at all. I did get some good answers on this forum and I think it brought out a lot of strong feelings from some people and a few dismissive unhelpful comments from others. I do appreciate the knowledge I have gained from this posting.
Bryan,
Sorry that you had a bad experience. All that I can share is that I have several prewar Lionel locomotives that are around 80 years old and none of them show signs of zinc rot. Most of them had problems with wiring that needed to be replaced, but that's about it. I know lots of people like the technology of today, but there's something to be said for simplicity and things that you can (usually) repair yourself. Also, with proper maintenance the prewar locomotives can easily last another 80 years...just saying all of this that if you are not too far along with modern stuff you may want to look into prewar or postwar...most of it is pretty indestructible.
Tom
