In the beginning...

[early0electric]

My definitive Christmas...My brother got a full size Lionel and I got an HO. I was devastated (see earlier post).
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VobynGZacfPiX4n9A

[pjdog350]

I stopped playing with trains when I was 14 years old. Girls? By the time I was 16 it was cars & girls? Didn't really pay much attention to the trains until 1982 when my sister called from Indianapolis and ask if I wanted my Lionel trains back. I found out then my father had given my trains to my nephew? I didn't know this. She said someone was in there attic and saw the trains and wanted to buy them. I said I wanted them and my son was in Indianapolis at the time and was getting ready to come back to Louisiana. When I got the trains they where in great shape however the 1033 was fried. I found another 1033 and was back in the train business.

I started finding fellow O Gauge train people and found some right in my own neighborhood. One turned out to be my best friend. He had and still has a great collection. Prewar mostly but postwar also. All in mint condition. I'll post more later. I have three pictures of our wet bar in our Louisiana house. I had 57 locomotives over the bar. I also had a 15 foot by 14 foot bedroom with a nice layout. Plus trains on the walls. I had a coal loader but it was manual. Had a crank on the side to move the buckets. Power was a Z and a KW transformer, I had a bascule bridge that came in a basket. But I managed to find all the parts to put it together. I sure wish I had not sold all this. I've done that twice where I lose interest and sell most all my trains.

[starfire700]

I don't know how a 229 motor would fit, the main obstacle is the top-mount bracket that would be missing. Most 1700's I have seen have the typical Lionel Jr type motor with metal side-frames, but with the top-mount bracket added.

[pjdog350]

Hello Starfire.

I knew that mounting would be difficult however I saw a video of a guy that put a Marx motor in a 1700. It ran great. He did the mount by making a brass fitting on the top of the motor and tapped it for a 2/56 bolt. I know the 229 is not a very tall motor but they run so well. I thought with a little work and some brass I could make a bracket. I've been looking everyday on ebay and just the internet. I can't find a 1700e motor anywhere. I did find a train store that say they have in. I joined there site only to find it was 'OUT OF STOCK'. Plus they wanted $ 149.00 for it.

Just trying to get some power to one of the 1700's that short a motor.

Life is better with a dog, toy trains, and a good wife?