Repairing Lionel Trains

Allan Martinez posted:

Hello Fellow Railroaders, 

Do I need to have a special license to become a Authorised Lionel Repair Person even though I'm doing this for me only? 

Allan 

You're kidding, right ?

It depends on what type of gauge trains you are looking to repair. There are plenty of Greenberg post war repair manuals. There are some lionelpc manuals . As far as the modern trains made in this century, I am not sure. But rest assured trains made in this century are repair by mostly replacing parts.

Allan, Dr. Tinker wrote a couple books on train repair. You can probably get them on Amazon or through his website. I think they dealt with Postwar trains, as opposed to the modern electronic stuff.

http://drtinkertrains.com/

If you are dealing with post-war Lionel there are a whole slew of manuals, books, and magazine articles from which one can glean a prodigious amount of information.  First and foremost is Greenberg's Repair and Operating Manual for Lionel Trains which contains about 750 pages of descriptions and schematics which identify most parts used in the manufacture of lionel post-war trains.  Greenberg later published Model Railroading with Lionel Trains authored by the late Roland LaVoie which is an absolute must read for a budding Lionel enthusiast.  This was followed by Volume II, An Advanced Layout by John Kouba which is also very informative.  Dr. Tinker's two volumes are extremely helpful as well and they deal strictly with post-war.  Classic Toy Trains published a book entitled Toy Train Repair Made Easy which covers 21 different Post-war projects.  Virtually all of these volumes are available at most train shows and meets.  There are a lot of others as well.  Hope you have fun. 

Allan Martinez posted:

Hello Fellow Railroaders, 

I want to learn how to repair Lionel Trains and Accessories for my own personal use. Is there a detailed book or manual so I can understand what I'm doing step-by-step? Do I need to have a special license to become a Authorised Lionel Repair Person even though I'm doing this for me only? 

 

Allan, all you have to do is post a question here; plenty of experts willing to answer your questions.

If you need parts for a repair, lots of vendors available.

The best way for many folks to learn is to jump in with both feet.  Start with some inexpensive stuff so if you screw it up, it won't be a major blow.

When I got back into the hobby, I started by fixing up old PW stuff, most of it I bought for a song.  I had some failures and many successes.