Messages

271

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: September 10, 2021, 10:08:28 PM »

Here's a fairly nice 156 with pedestal headlight. It has later couplers.

 

It's actually worse than it looks because the scratches are so old the bare metal has darkened.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/lionel-prewar-156-4-4-4-dark-green-new-york-centr-955-c-bcd4880b1e

I don't have a 156 with pedestal light and late couplers. I have a 156X with ped. light and riveted couplers, and a 12 wheeler pedestal light, riveted couplers and gold painted vents. But I have enopugh dark green locos so I won't be bidding.

Here's a similar but more beat up 156 with pedestal light and late couplers in a set:

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/early-lionel-prewar-dark-green-156-nyc-locomotive-1123-c-eac4824867

Now for something to drool over:

 

Boxed number 2 trolley set for Butler Brothers.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/boxed-lionel-prewar-standard-gauge-outfit-f1680-f-1098-c-202407db31

And something unusual, but much cheaper:

 

That's a 254E with the E on the door and a 3-position e-unit mounted sideways. I doubt it came in that box. 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/lionel-prewar-254-green-electric-locomotive-with-1114-c-4224b29afb

272

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: September 10, 2021, 09:40:47 PM »

here's an interesting loco:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294372195283

I bought a 260e on ebay years ago with an apple green frame. I sent it back after examining it.

273

Collector Corner / Re: 358W 400E WORK TRAIN SET BOX

« on: September 10, 2021, 02:43:32 PM »

That's a great find Larry. From 1937 or '38 based on the label.

274

General Discussion / Re: original color of this 252 engine

« on: September 06, 2021, 12:30:37 PM »

Here's a 3 car set with a 248:

https://www.train99.com/forum/index.php?topic=65.0

Normally the 248 locos came with 2 cars and the 252 locos had three.

The black frame is probably original. One of the things you have to remember is these were the bottom of the line trains. Lionel wanted to sell trains, and would have sold it with whatever frames were availible at the time. 

275

General Discussion / Re: original color of this 252 engine

« on: September 05, 2021, 11:39:21 PM »

That's TERRA COTTA. Original Lionel color from 1932-34 period. The 252 loco wasn't shown in the catalogs in Terra Cotta. The loco comes with or without a cream stripe along the bottom edge, and can be found with a maroon frame or a matching Terra Cotta frame. Some collectors think the ones with the terra cotta frames were assembled by collectors.

Loco information:
https://train99.com/prewar-0-gauge/lionel-prewar-0-gauge-250-and-252-electic-locomotives-1926-34/

It probably came in a set with two 529 coaches and a 530 observation in matching Terra Cotta with maroon frames. The cars come with either gold (early) or black lettering.

Cars information:
http://www.train99.com/ency/lionel1/pass/l529sra.html

Maybe Jim can confirm the frame colors? My 2000 article shows terra cotta with matching frame and mentions maroon, but yours has a black frame. Two screws can change the cabs so switching is easy.

276

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: September 02, 2021, 12:55:22 PM »

I didn't even notice it had a chimney. The smokestack is what makes it rare. Lionel didn't do stacks until  the 00 caboose came out in '38. 

Been slow on eBay lately.

I did buy the dog a holloween costume on eBay. I only think of ebay as a place for trains, but they have all kinds of other stuff on there too.

277

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: September 01, 2021, 08:07:50 PM »

Why would this 822 get a bid?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165033403982

278

General Discussion / Re: deep pocket frames

« on: August 29, 2021, 06:08:11 PM »

Are you talking about the deep dish frames used on late 2800 series freight cars?

If so. . .  the dish raises the car frame to match the cars with the earlier high bolsters. The 800/2800 series cars had trucks with higher bolsters than the 1680 series trucks.

Here's some photos that show the difference. The truck with nickel journals is the higher 800/2800 series truck.

 

 

279

General Discussion / Re: Quick Forum Update

« on: August 29, 2021, 03:43:44 PM »

Update - Images are still screwed up. None of the packages work with the new version.

I did get the videos to work again.

This should be a working video:

280

General Discussion / Re: 2021 TCA Convention Review

« on: August 28, 2021, 09:17:46 PM »

everyone knows me, but no one will admit it.

Like my dad. Most people liked him, a few hated him, but EVERYONE knew him.

If you dig around here on the forum you'll see lots of early Lionel O gauge. Hewre's agood one to start with. We all added to our want lists with this thread:

https://www.train99.com/forum/index.php?topic=27.0

Welcome aboard.

281

How To and Technical Information / Re: polishing brass pieces.

« on: August 28, 2021, 11:09:48 AM »

If you're repainting use a tumbler with brass medium. For just a few small peices use Brasso and cotton balls or tissues.

If you're not repainting the trains, don't clean the brass with more than a dry paint brush or damp with water rag. The brass should have a patina.

It's common for new collectors to regret their efforts after cleaning and polishing.   

282

General Discussion / Re: My Unique Train Item

« on: August 27, 2021, 05:34:57 PM »

Here's a unique train car:

 

American Flyer postwar beer car. I was unable to find this in any of the price guides. Must be really unique. Did you know Scheafer was the offical beer of the New York Dodgers in the mid 1950s? This car might have even belonged to Jackie Robinson!

283

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: August 22, 2021, 05:03:57 PM »

Here's an auction that I had to look at closely.

 

The roofs are soldeired onto the cars under the paint and no lettering worries me. Plus I have a nice set.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165030684751

284

General Discussion / 2021 TCA Convention Review

« on: August 22, 2021, 01:35:33 PM »

I got back from the convention last night. I went over Thursday, and then left Friday afternoon.

Attendance was sparse. The regular monthly LA meets I went to before the pandemic were larger in terms of tables and shoppers. The hall opened for sellers a 7AM on Friday. Usually there is a line of people at the doors.

Nope. I just walked right in and until about 7:30 there were only a few people setting up. They let the buyers in at 8:30 instead of 9, and there was no rush or crowd.

The Trains: This show brought collectors in from the surrounding states so there was a much higher quality of trains than the regular LA meets.  Lots of nice standard gauge and prewar. 25 years ago people would have been fighting over the trains, but now they just sit there.

I did two tables of nice stuff, and sold almost nothing. The Flyer standard gauge sets just sat. There were 4 blue litho Pres. Specials, and 3 brown ones.

I bought this little trolley because I am still collecting:

 

Getting it was worth the whole show.

The Social Activities: The restaurants and bars were either closed or set up with distancing and mask requirements so there were no groups of collectors to hang out with. In the '80s and '90s the hotel bars were fun places to hang out in, but as the collectors got older bedtimes come earlier.

I don't do the TCA tours and such. The week before the convention I called and begged invitations to see collections. Because I only had one night to go visiting, I only saw one collection. A wonderful Chicago Flyer collection. I spent  3 hours there and could have easily spent 8 more and not seen everything.

I had fun. I got something neat for the collection, and got rid of some of my duplicates. I got to hang out with other collectors, and see some wonderful trains.

PS I had money in my pocket on my way out so I bought these:

 

I have that 42 with a Lionel Lines stamp on the end, so it's a variation, and it was cheap. The blue on the trolley has been painted over. I looked at it outside in the sunlight and thought maybe I can get the overpaint off. Now that I have it home, I doubt it. It was cheap enough that I can sell it to a restorer for what I paid.

285

General Discussion / Quick Forum Update

« on: August 17, 2021, 08:57:12 PM »

On  August 13th the board automatically updated itself to a new version. (Insert screaming and cursing here.) This caused the picture modifications to fail. I was able to get one mod that allows you to insert pictures into areas of the post to work again, but the slideshow viewer is not compatible.

I haven't had the time to look into replacements. Until I can figure this out continue to upload pictures as you have been doing. Whatever solutions I install will be backward compatible so we don't loose any of the prior images.