From Junkbox to Second Life

Thank you for the comments on the GG1/2056. This was a job on a work caboose with a broken roof and chimney.

Texastrain,

The North Central O Gaugers are alive and well, and the layout is in the Fremont Public Library.

I can remember Grandpa modifying AF, with Lionel controls by adding something. I thought it was the DC sensitive relays but it could have been E-units I guess.

The only S track was on the test stand though.

He would work on anything for people, but was pretty much a Lionel purest too.

Just replaced the battery relay horn in the Traimmaster (back in the beginning of this thread) with a williams true blast plus...sounds like the FM op engine was changed to anEMD 567...took 10 minits...it's a good unit but the volume is not very loud...just an up date...joe

ChooChooPaul,  thanks for the update on the North Central O Gaugers Club.  I still keep in touch with John Flinn and Larry, but that is about all I have addys for.  tell all I say Hello and wish them the best...   I do miss running on the club layout modules, trying to finish my own here at home... when I am home.  But the greatest pleasure, and I know many agree, was seeing the smiles on faces of the kids, and parents.

I need N5 cabin cars like a hole in the head, but I can't pass them up. 

This one had a broken stack at a train show that everyone else had passed on, so I gave it a home. It was one of my early repairs using my favorite JB Weld epozy.

Hope we can keep this thread going...it combines my love of prewar Lionel and my frugal lifestyle!

Tom

JB Weld is the duct tape of the train hobby! 

love the N5s. There is one near to me, supposed to be getting restored. the town was using it for a welcome center, then decided it wanted it moved, so a local art gallery owner bought it. 

Back in Summer 2014, the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society's quarterly magazine, The Keystone, had a nice article on a restored N5B. It came beautiful.

Tom

Not sure if this qualifies as a junkbox find, but according to the seller, this was “found in a box in a shed” along with the original transformer and O72 track.  The transformer probably won’t be used again (at least not as long as I have it).  I restored the track to operable condition and have used it with a Lionel 1034.  The Streamliner doesn’t look too nice, but thanks to motor repairs by Bill and HAH3’s uncle, it runs just fine.

nice find.

Very nice find better to be enjoyed than in a shed

One of those plastic reissues of the Lionel crane car reconfigured on top of a shortened Marx tower. I didn't have any use for them in their original state.

nice!

Now that's just TOO COOL. Don't touch a thing............

Very nice work better to be used than tossed in the parts bin

I look for and buy quite a bit of broken stuff. Most of the time it's for parts to build something, not so much repair another like item. I have bought working items to remove the parts I want or to re-configure it as I want. But I hate scrapping an older complete item no mater how cheap I got it. Very nice use of the crane though.

unless I'm behind him at the show....

Yep, likely I'm gonda'like steal your tower crane idea someday

 I thought that was really neat.

Found this for less than thirty bucks, some paint and new parts and here it is.

Fantastic

I am not above chopping up perfectly sound items. The remains become parts for a future project.

For a kit bash I bought a few of these plus oodles of NOS parts from Lionel - various GG1 trucks (with and without traction tires, and for Pullmor motors and DC motors). When the main project was done I ended up with about 10 lbs of parts and a spare shell and frame. I didn't think there was enough to assemble a complete GG1 (esp. wheels and axles, since the various trucks had varying diameters of axles). Got  bored one day and decided to give it a go and lo and behold I was able to cobble together a complete GG1:

Shell - doesn't look it but it's got lots of scratches and paint blemishes.

Frame - was bent to heck and had bunches of holes drilled into it. I had to hammer it as flat as I could and then bolt in the e-unit (conventional, decided to not go DC).

Trucks - I installed traction tire wheels and had to mix and match all sorts of wheels, gears and axles to get two complete trucks. I also removed the traction magnets.

Motor - I broke the stator coil wire and had to unwind the whole coil to get access to it. I then rewound it and to my utter amazement it works fine and equivalent to the untouched motor.

End result is by far and away my best puller. Turns out traction magnets add a huge amount of low speed stiction. Now that they're gone low speed operation loaded or unloaded is as smooth as butter. I can pull ~40 postwar cars with ease (the limit of my layout) and there is plenty of throttle left. I figure I can pull ~50 cars before hitting what I think is the current limit of the Pullmor motor (2.5A each). For short periods I think 60-70 cars is possible.

doing some work on my Torpedo's tender.

Great job

Dave, that new tender will be a huge improvement.

Here is a Marx CP steamer I restored with the help of parts from Robert Grossman.

Started with these blank unfinished wood bodies....

and ended up with these 2 cars:

And now for something completely different! This diesel was so bad that I had been using it as a test vehicle for paint compatibility. You could say it still is junk, but here's my fictional history for it:  

The old E7 served the ATSF long and honorably on its passenger trains.  Now, with body scrapes, rust, thinning paint and leaky wheel bearings, it is relegated to maintenance-of-way service.  It even looks to have a blue rear door from a freight unit, for cryin' out loud. It runs reliably, of course.   The snow blade is genuine rusty tinplate.

very creative Daryl. I like it!

That resurrected GG1 is a beaut!

Ok, I'll play,  I can relate to this thread for sure!!

Here's a 249E and 600/601/602 cars I did a year or so ago.  I still need to finish them up with some lettering and a replacement pilot, but everything else is an original part.  These are the worst that I've saved but they are close.

I do have a worse starting point... I picked up this green frame 260E a while back.  I need to get back to work on it as well.  Currently it's in a shoe box up on the shelf.

Dennis man, you win the Ambition Award!  That orange and blue set is drop-dead gorgeous. 

Fantastic

I dunno...I'm like the "before"......

......too

Its all good.

Dennis, 

  Nice job!

  Maybe you need a dehumidifier! Are you living in the Amazon that they are so Rusty? 

  Tom 

No Tom, they don't rust like that in my house  I tend to buy em that way if the deal is good enough.  It's a fun challenge