Lionel 654 Tank Car

I take that as nobody has ever seen this? That's a shame, as I think it looks really good like this.

CarGuy,

Lionel never painted handrails on any tanks. They were always nickel, brass, copper or blackened.... never painted.

Sometimes, the nickel finish is dulled with time. This makes them look more like they were painted. Maybe this is what you are referring to??

Pics might help!

quote:

Originally posted by Rob English:
CarGuy,

Lionel never painted handrails on any tanks. They were always nickel, brass, copper or blackened.... never painted.

Sometimes, the nickel finish is dulled with time. This makes them look more like they were painted. Maybe this is what you are referring to??

Pics might help!

Not the handrails themselves, but the little clips that hold them on. I will post photos when I get a chance (hopefully tomorrow).

CarGuy,

My statement also applies to the stanchion clips. I am sure that it looks cool, but Lionel never shipped tanks with painted clip-or handrails - from the factory.

Here are the rather late photos I said I would post. I'm wondering if they are just tarnished, but the color matches the car, and my Grandfather, who got the set new, swears it was never repaired or had anything replaced.





Even if Lionel didn't do this (which I still think it was by them), I would like to recreate this. What color paint is the tank car?

Looks like aged nickel to me. If you want them to match the tank, email Charlie Wood @ Chas327@aol.com, I'm sure he can help you.

Jeff Davis

Michael, that is all original. The stanchions are aged nickel on the car...

Some tanks had brass railings and plates, and copper and brass domes (this is correct), others had all nickel trim.

Frankly, that car is in nice shape. I would not change a thing save adding handrails to the other end and a ladder back on the side.

Rob English is correct. I will add, if you change anything you will decrease the value of the car.
God Bless,

Those are originals unpainted and well pantina'd. To match and be correct you'll need to find matching originals.

Gandy

That color is simply known as "aluminum", but in the name of all that's holy, DO NOT REPAINT OR TOUCH THE PAINT ON THAT CAR! That little 654 is in VERY good condition, for pity's sake, don't mess with the finish or you'll destroy it.

Replacing the missing trim is fine and should be easy enough to do. I've seen mixed nickel and brass trim on these cars before, I have an orange one somewhere packed away that has the same thing. These were toys and Lionel was just using up whatever they had available at the moment.

If you get repro trim for this car and want it to match and look old very quickly, here's a little trick. Boil a couple of eggs, crumble the yokes up in a ziplock bag, and place the brass or nickel parts in the bag and leave them there for a couple of days. Due to the extremely high sulphur content, in less than a week, that brand-new stuff will look like it's a hundred years old, then you can clean them up to look like the pieces on the tank car already. It's a very old trick, a LOT of antique auction folks do this with repro items - works equally well with nickel, brass, copper, silver, gold, or pretty much anything that's capable of tarnishing. Good luck!

Don't worry, I was not about to paint the car. It is part of a set which is in that same condition, and I am not about to repaint ANY of it. The paint was just a thought about trying to get the replacement parts to match the older ones.

I am going to try the egg idea though. Any advice for putting the pieces on?

Thank you for all your help everyone.

I've put handrails on a bunch of 804's and 654's, and it can really only be done properly by taking the tank off the frame so you can access the inside of the tank through the opening in the bottom. By doing this you can properly bend the stanchion tabs in place so they are nice and tight. Do do this, you need to carefully straighten the tabs that hold the tank and the bottom of the ladders onto the frame...very carefully so that you don't break them off.

Also, I've noticed that the repro handrails tend to be slightly undersized, which can make fitting the stanchions a bit of a challenge. You have to be careful not to scratch the paint on the tank when you're fiddling with the stanchions to get them positioned.

PD