Bringing Old Trains Back to Life for Christmas - Part 1

Memory is a funny thing, you may not recall the details, but you do recall the feeling.

After setting up the Christmas tree, my mom or my uncle would bring out my uncle's Lionel Trains from their hidden slumbering place.   My first set was originally my uncle's own childhood  Lionel Steam trains from 1947 - 48 that he gave to me.   I recall the first time I saw those trains.   They were not new,  the trains were about 17 years old at that time but they were instantly one of the most fascinating things I had ever seen. They are now 70 years old, I still have most of them and have added more since that time.

If you are looking to awaken Postwar Era Lionel Trains from the 1946 - 1969 period there is a note of caution here. Today, these items are scarce in excellent condition, highly collectible and of rather high value in very good condition. In cleaning them, one can inadvertently remove the original paint, certain key details and lettering.  

Back in the 1940's and 1950's era, when Lionel wrote  the original maintenance manuals, cleaning engines and car bodies may have been as simple as they suggest. But remember, 70 years ago, Lionel trains replacements for decals and parts were readily available. Today,  the circumstances are different. Many, if not all, of Lionel engines and cars are rare collectibles to a certain extent, and as a result require extremely careful cleaning.

To awaken your own sleeping trains, you want to keep an attention

Precision Tools

to detail and exercise a lot of care and patience.  You will need regular screwdrivers and you will also need Precision Screwdrivers

Over the years I found waking the trains up to be part of the fun and excitement.  

Lionel CTC lockon

Before doing anything else, its best to put on old clothes and start with the track.  If they are Lionel, find the CTC Lockon(s).  Inspect and put aside any warped or bent track sections and those with rust. Start with the cleanest pieces of track for now, put the rest aside.  For now, we are only dealing with getting the locomotives and Engines up and running.  To do this you will need some working track and a working transformer. ( most of the rusty or broken track can be revived. I will post a separate article on fixing broken track sections)   

027 track and scotch brite

Lionel Track Cleaning Kit

Use Scotch Brite, as even the best sections of tack that have been stored or sat a long time unused, must be wiped and cleaned. Do not to use  erasers and Do NOT use WD40,  sandpaper or steel wool to clean the track or anything else.     Make sure all the track joint pins are firm in the tracks and that the pins are clean and free of rust.

  >> TIP << you can use apple cider vinegar to dissolve and remove rust from track and track pins.     

 Use a scotch brite pad for track cleaning. Steel wool  will damage items and leave behind metal strands.   You do not want to have tiny metal strands left behind  which can cause shorts or go in to the motor and ruin the motor.   

Do not use Erasers and WD40 as these leave behind residue that gums up everything and will eventually require the motor brushes or contact plate be replaced. Do not use these.

Some sponges have a scotch brite pad on the back of them. I prefer using those.  Follow up with Lionel track cleaner and make sure its all dry before placing any train on the track. Make sure there are no tiny bits of debris and other strands of dog hair or whatever else may be about the track.  Fibers and hairs will wind up wrapping around the wheel trucks or worse, wrap around the motor.

Make sure the middle rail or any of the rails are not shorting out by making metal to metal contact with the cross ties on the track. Sometimes the insulators on the middle rail of the older tinplate track can fail or go missing. Also make sure you are using the correct track. Often  true O gauge trains may have issues on an O27 track and require larger curves. However most 027 trains works fine on  O gauge tubular track and fastrack. 

Types of Postwar O27 Track CLICK TO ENLARGE

There were 3 types of older tubular tinplate track from Lionel. The main difference is in the height of the track and the curve. 027 was lower and made to allow tighter turns, which in turn, limited the operation of certain trains that could not operate on smaller curves. Longer train locomotives and longer trains need larger curves and these would run on O Gauge track with wider curves. Lionel produced O and 027 models of most of their trains. High Rail is a term used to describe true O gauge model railroading.This is because the O gauge track is higher in profile than the lower profile O27.

Put together a basic circle or oval of tracks to test the trains. 

Lionel Lockon in correct placement.

Make sure the Lionel CTC  lockon is correctly attached. The top clip always connects to the middle rail, the lower one to one of the outer rails. If you are into it, you can skip the lockon and solder the wires to the underside of the track instead. The Example in the photo shows the wire ends tinned with solder to make for a more solid connection

The following assumes you have standard AC power and a Lionel AC transformer. If your house happen to have direct current (DC) an AC transformer cannot be used for it will burn out immediately. (Most regions of the US and Canada have alternating current (AC).  DC is household current is rare.) 

When your Track is ready and lockon is attached to the track, it's time to wire the lockon to the transformer.  We are assuming a simple single short loop that will only need one lockon.  ( See back of transformer pic.) 

Back of transformer pic

 For this example we are using a more modern Lionel CW 80 watt transformer. ( we will review transformers in more detail in another post / chapter )   The black lower U post is for universal ground and goes to the post on the lockon that attaches to the outer rail, which is usually marked 2 and has connection to an outer rail. The red A post on the CW should connect to the lockon post that connects to the center rail usually marked as  number 1 on the lockon. When connecting the wires, make sure the transformer is unplugged or the throttle is in the off position. 

Place the locomotive engine on the track, make sure all the wheels are railed correctly so they are not shorting. If you open the transformer throttle and get a blinking light, no movement or even sparks on the track. Shut the throttle and check for:


  

Click to enlarge

If you have checked everything and found not track issues or issues with the way the locomotive is situated on the track, its time to "bump" the engine using the transformer. You bump by fully but gradually opening and closing the transformer throttle on the transformer.  

Often you can help coax the Engine by first placing a tiny, very tiny amount of Lionel oil to the proper places ( depends on the model of the train.  If after several or more "bumps" there is not movement and all you see is the lights come on if the engine has lights, and some buzzing, you may need to clean and oil the axles and lubricate the gears of the motor.  After cleaning caked up axles with a q-tip, Lionel cleaner and a toothpick, use a clean toothpick to apply minuscule amounts of Oil or Lube where indicated. Be sure to keep oil, grease and cleaner off the body of the train as it will remove paint and decals.

As you can see from the picture, Lionel recommended using oil only at the six (6) axle bearing locations. All other areas, such as the front and rear truck axles, pivot points and gears at the side of the motor should receive lubricant (grease). Lionel also recommended using grease and not oil where the armature shaft goes through the brush plate (see the inset picture at the lower left of the larger picture). Take special note of the fact that Lionel does not recommend using oil or grease on the collector roller axles or at the side rod screws and other linkage. Obviously you wouldn't lubricate the axles of the collector rollers as that would impede the conductivity of electricity from the track.

The older post war locomotives and engines have electro mechanical motors and controls vs today's trains which are electronic and digital. An upside of the postwar electro mechanical Lionel trains is that they literally can run for more than a lifetime, tolerate the occasional short when derailing and will go on running with minor maintenance and occasional replacement of the friction bearing parts.

When these mighty motors sit for more than a month or so, they build a light surface residue on the motor brush plate and other electrical contacts. The other moving parts and gears also tend build a slight surface coating and the lubrication on them dries up, making it hard for the motor to move them. Pickup and Contact points on the train to the center rail may need a cleaning too. 

Make sure ALL the wheels of the train are properly aligned on the track,  otherwise the train will cause a short. You will see the CW transformer blink if there is a short. Do not leave the throttle open when you see or suspect a short.

If this occurs , find the short in the track or wring, or re-Rail the train ( align the wheels) so ALL of the wheels inside flanges are on the inner part of the outside rails and the bottom of all the wheels are on top of the outer rails.

Another item to check if after cleaning and lubricating and you see no movement or reverse movement and just a buzzing,   that buzzing is often the e-unit that controls the direction of the train. It may be that the lever for the unit is in neutral, meaning it is in the stopped position. Also every time you bump the train with the throttle,  you are switching the e-unit from forward, neutral and reverse.

Click to enlarge

You can look to flip the e-unit lever to either one side or the other to force it in a direction. ( lever location shown below) The E-Unit can be disconnected by pushing the E-Unit lever to the OFF position. Then the  locomotive will not reverse automatically but will always run in the same direction.

Some early postwar locos like the 2020, (pictured below ) which is the 027 version of the O gauge S2 turbines,  do not have an exposed lever, so you have to deal with the automatic switching of direction anytime you open and close the throttle.

If the loco doesn't run right off, It just may be gummed up a bit and needs some AC to run through it to loosen things up and warm it up.   Leave the throttle open for a few seconds, then close the throttle. Bump the engine in this fashion a few times. The longer it has been stored or not run, the more bumps it may take to wake it up.    

As the trains get older, I have found each e-unit lever has its own sweet spot. Check the wheels or linkages are not binding or bent. Your train may have at one point in its life, been dropped or taken a dive off the train table and on to the cement basement floor by an over enthused operator. Many boys prefer to see trains  go fast and smash up.  Most of the older trains still go fast enough to fly right off a curve and off the train table straight in to a wall or fall to the cement basement floor. 

This sort of scenario, in addition to usually being stored in the worst places, often just tossed in to a box or crate, are the primary reasons for the scarcity of older trains in very good condition. They were after all toys, although they were expensive toys. Lionel Trains were never inexpensive relative to the economy they were produced. This remains true to this day. You may also need to give the engine a slight push or a gentle tap. 

 The Joy of trains is something that can be passed forward. They truly can be another bonding activity among families and promote positive life memories. Playing with and setting up trains with your kids, nieces, nephews or grand kids can add to your positive life memories.


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