Building up an American FLyer 1939 5640 Hudson out of junk

Dennis HollerOGR Forum Member

How many put locos together piecemeal like this? Been working on just finding the major parts for this mess. It is a 1939 5640 Hudson, 3/16ths O gauge. It started off with finding the boiler with mainrods in one auction for $15. Later picked up a prewar tender shell missing a couple of steps for $10, then got lucky on a tender framewith trucks for $20 or so. Last major portion was the motor and correct rear truck for a verygood price as well. Still had to steal a steamchest from another wreck and still need a boiler front. That said I now have an all original 5640 Hudson. So at this point all I did was bolt it together to make sure all parts fit and castings are solid. So far so good. Drivers turn smooth as well. So this represents my main method for ending up with many of these prewar difficult to find locos. Definitely not collector grade but again it is all original parts and once I go through it and polish up the plated parts It should be a keeper. Added the auction pictures showing the nice boiler auction and the motor and broken boiler auction contents.

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12/2/217:49 PM

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GeoPegOGR Forum Member

My goodness, you were dealing with a bit o' the pest, weren't you?

I too, love assembling things from pieces, and so it was when I found a 726 Berk frame with drivers in a box of parts I had just bought, I simply had to finish the job. The 736 shell appeared at an opportune moment, and Berk shells seem to be hard to come by in decent shape, so I said, "What the heck" and bought it. I never have tallied what I spent on auctions and on parts sellers to build this beauty, mostly cuz I didn't care. Kind of like paying high prices to go see a movie and enjoy some popcorn - if the prices bother you, you shouldn't go!

I did have to get selective as I obtained parts, e.g. I had two armatures, the "better" of the two having a much better condition worm, but a very slightly bent worm shaft - the worm was straight, so after about 15 minutes of trying to straighten the shaft with a leather hammer, I must have calibrated that last blow just right, cuz it now turns straight and true!!! Motor mounting did require the unobtainable shim Lionel used to provide, but you know, washers can work just as well - took about 15 minutes of digging through the "screw box" to find just what was needed.

The best boiler front I was able to find in my parts bin had two broken "ears", so with a marker light repair kit from Jeff and a lot of grinding patience, and a dab or two of black paint, followed by new jewels, it was looking spiffy! I'm still looking for the extra "saddle" weight that became an option, but really, this thing weighs a ton and has no problem pulling stuff around the oval.

Frame and worm gear all checked out OK