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I just purchased the 1134 shown below from Cabin Fever Auctions.   I have bought a couple of items from them recently and they have been great on answering questions and shipping promptly.

I don't own much standard gauge (should I say wide gauge), but this has always been one of my favorite engines and wanted an older looking one rather than a new MTH.  It was really filthy covered in dirt and saw dust, so I took it apart and cleaned it, documenting the dissembled parts.  I was looking for some folks with expertise on the originality (or repo parts present) and help determine is this a typical example of this engine because of zinc rot with the repo parts ( or maybe more of mutt where it has parts from several different runs of engines) .  There is very limited information out there online.  Also looking for rough estimate what its worth.

I was impressed with the parts used on this engine assuming it was from 20's, as there are bearings on the two drive axles, also rotating gears and also on both sides of the motor.  Some of the bearings are even stamped with Ives copyright.  I did spend some time removing the old oil from the motor bearings as it had become solid over time and locked up.  The drive rods are really odd, as they almost seem like they are made out of lead as they are super soft and bendable, is this normal?  The motor fired right up and e-unit worked great (very surprised by this).  There were allot of screws in what seem like difficult position to remove, wondering if there is known or preferred method for disassembly.

Some of the examples I have seen of this engine has some sort or lever coming out of the cab for the reversing unit and mine does not.  What does this lever do and should mine have that?

I am needing a new pick-up roller for it, who could I get than from?

I think the following part are reproductions but not sure.  Any feedback would be appreciated.

-Rear Trailing Truck looks new

-Drive wheels look new

-Rear aprons look new

-Not sure about the tender/tender chassis/wheels/coal load

-Pilot looks potentially newer and smoother that the boiler

-The headlight holding device I was suspect of missing pieces, I end up using shrink wrap to isolate it from the grounded mounts.

Thanks!

Mike

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Last edited by Hump Yard Mike
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Hey Mike,

Youā€™ve got a real pretty engine on your hands! Congratulations! You might want to check hennings for a new pickup. Iā€™d be very, very careful with messing with the zinc parts of this loco. As they can be very fragile and letā€™s just sayā€¦ frustrating to repair. It looks as if the wheels and trucks have already been replaced. Not really that big of a deal for most collectors except those who want a pure original. Keep in mind that the best way to check and see if something is truly original or not is to see how clean those parts are. For example, if your engine has original wheels, typically they should be ware and dull.  In other words it should show mileage. Those wheels look fairly new to me. I canā€™t tell you for certain if the paint is original original or not on your locoā€¦ but it does look a bit clean for its age. Remember that sometimes people only repaint certain areas to make the engine look better. The paint on the boiler looks pretty original. The best way to test that out would be to use a black light to see if the paint is factory or not. From what I understand, Black lights will tell you if the paint is lead based or not. If itā€™s not, itā€™s been tampered with. The tender does look a hint restored too. And The cowcatcher looks quite clean for a area that typically would have a majority of the scratches. Keep in mind these are all just opinions of mine, not facts. So take it with a grain of salt. Thereā€™s a wealth of information and smart folks on this forum, so hopefully youā€™ll get some good ideas and news on here.



                                                Trainfam

Very nice! Remember a lot of these locomotives were restored during the 2nd golden age of standard gauge and the parts and paint put on then are now approaching 50 years old and have their own patina.  With more emphasis on operating condition now than in the past, some of the petrified grease (often a mix of soap and oil) may be ā€œoriginalā€ so youā€™re doing the right thing. That tender casting seems to have mostly escaped zinc pest issues, but treat it carefully, they are really fragile. Clean it run it and enjoy it!

So I am trying to get this to run well on  a temporary set up and having issues.  First issue was the fiber plate holding the pick ups had sagged over time, and not pushing them to the center rail causing eratic operation  I put some shims under to locate them closer to the middle rail and also found the roller I mentioned in previous post was just re-assembled wrong by some previous owner and corrected it.  With those fixes in, the engine runs well except for the pilot truck and trailing truck.  After a couple of minutes of running, the motor started getting warm and gave it a break

Back to the truck issues, they seem to always be catching on the locomotive body.  One solution could be to shim the loco body up a bit to get the clearance, but surely this must work alright on otherā€™s locomotive.  I assume Ives used O42 radius track?  I also compare the wheel spacing to an mth 1134 and it looks close.  It also looks like the MTH engine is higher allowing for more clearance.  Any ideas here would be welcome.
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It looks the steam chest casting is not consistent, where it looks lower in the front then the back, even though the top edge looks level.

Thanks!

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Last edited by Hump Yard Mike

It appears you are set up on carpet...have you tried it on a flat hard floor or table?  The variations in track level due to the weight of the locomotive on squishy carpet may be problematic.  Can a soft  large diameter spring be added between truck plate and frame?  Not too stiff or you may loose traction.  Otherwise i'd consider just shimming between frame and motor assembly or, more drastic, take a dremel to the bottom of the cylinder.

Thanks for the feedback so far gentlemen.  Even on  a hard surface like shown in my 2nd video, it seems to be an issue.  Looking at pictures of other 1134s on line, many of them (not all) look like they would have a conflict .  Also notice most folks that have videos showing them running look to be using O72.  


I assume this must be a common issue with a known work around or just left to wide radius curvesā€¦.

An update on this.  I sacrificed the front pilot truck rather than the engine itself, I ended up drilling a new hole in pilot to move to the front axle as forward as far as possible.  I assume the pilot is truck is not original, so it is what it is.  It seems to have worked.  Maybe this is an option for others. 5DF97CCA-AE32-436E-8BC2-AE9ECDEF5C28

After spending more time looking at references on the internet (Thomas, the site you referenced above was very helpful!), it looks like this style engine should be 1930, with the recessed headlight.  I think the pilot casting maybe from an earlier engine, as other references indicate there should be a more solid pilot (not hollowed out around the steam chest) when viewing from underneath.   I suspect it wouldnā€™t be too far of a stretch imagining Ives/Lionel to mix and match available parts from the factory to use up inventory.

I think I also have an answer on the lever in the cab, where itā€™s presence indicated no e-unit.  It was used as a manual switch for reversing the engine.

I would like to buy new side rods for it, any leads on who would sell them would be great.  I thought MTH, but itā€™s parts  web site doesnā€™t have much on the Ives engines.

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Last edited by Hump Yard Mike

I think I also have an answer on the lever in the cab, where itā€™s presence indicated no e-unit.  It was used as a manual switch for reversing the engine.

I would like to buy new side rods for it, any leads on who would sell them would be great.  I thought MTH, but itā€™s parts  web site doesnā€™t have much on the Ives engines.



Correct.  Your locomotive has an "R" unit as seen in the motor pictures.  No cab lever necessary.



I don't think anyone is reproducing the rods currently.  You can try calling Hennings trains and see if they have any left, but I no longer see them listed on their website in the Ives parts.  Hennings was selling off all the old M.E.W. stock for awhile.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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