There is something truly magical about having a train under the tree. I finally mounted my track permanently so I could run the Polar Express train gifted to me by a friend. It hadn't been running since 2016---but made a stationary appearances in the years sine that time. I was determined that it would be out for 2021. Don't know why but it only ran well with the main ca and the coal car---and you know I was okay with that a long as I had a moving train! Alas the light died---it's a project for this year.

I've been trying to attach a photo without success so here's the link https://www.flickr.com/photos/22283683@ ... 2/sizes/l/

Wow, that's a terrific under-the-tree display, reminiscent of the elaborate little Christmas "gardens" my grandfather used to assemble on a small table under a four-foot tree when I was a kid. Lots of small cardboard houses, lead figures, and small penny toys from Germany. He had a Flyer set, but never included that in his display. Dyed sawdust for grass...man, that brings back a lot of memories.

I visited the Eastern Division's meet at York this past Friday. The only thing on the look-for list was a Lionel 2620 searchlight car for a friend in Missouri. I was lucky and found a couple nice, reasonably-priced examples.

When shopping at York, there are two strategies of buying. One is that when you see what you're looking for at a price and in a condition that meets your expectations, best snap it up as it might not be there when you come back later. However, this runs the risk of finding another one in nicer condition and/or at a better price just a few aisles away. I tend to lean toward the first, which is what I did this time around, and as sometimes happens, I found a nicer one when I went to the next building.

So here they are, two 2620 searchlight cars:



The one in the foreground is the earlier version, 1938-39, with "ridged" box-couplers and an aluminum-painted light. The one behind it is the 1940 version with the "simulated knuckle and lift pin" box couplers and light gray painted searchlight housing. A bit of surface rust on the earlier version, but I'm suspicious that the 1940 version has had a bit of refurbishment. No matter, the 1940 version heads to Missouri and the earlier version stays here to fill a hole in the roster.

Also found a few O-gauge hollow-cast railroad figures (vintage and manufacturer unknown), along with an inexpensive postwar Lionel tender (6066T).

A fun day, for sure.

If I set up my trains again this year, I may have to add a refigured flat car. They are among my favorites.

If you set them up, post a few pics. I could use the inspiration!

love these searchlights!

After a number of years, I'm finally getting around to vigorously working on the project pile. I've been sorting through everything, dispositioning some stuff, storing others. I'm not putting anything away that needs work.

Decided to start with something relatively simple. I bought a set of 600-series passenger cars years ago at York. The cars were in decent, played-with condition, but the observation car had what I thought was spillage on it which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be some pretty substantial corrosion. Here's a blow-by-blow accounting of the steps I took to repair the damage.

The first step was to remove the window/door insert from the car:



I removed the roof and stripped out the frosted acetate window glazing on both sides (it was brittle and crumbling in a few places). Using a small screwdriver and a pair of needle-nosed pliers, I carefully bent the metal tabs holding the panel in place and extricated it from the car. The toughest bit was reaching the tabs under the "seat" that runs the length of the insert. These I was able to get at through the windows on the opposite side. Once removed, a close examination revealed that the corrosion only affected the embossed insert, not the car body itself, so that made things a lot simpler.

I had considered running this thing through my brother's bead-blaster, but the corrosion proved to be relatively minor surface rust. I tried a wire brush on the Dremel first, but a simple fine-grit foam sanding-block proved far more effective. There was very little pitting of the metal, so after a bit of polishing with some fine steel wool, it was ready for repainting.

I hate having to use the airbrush for repainting (clean-up is a pain), so I always try to find a match on the commercial spray paint racks at one of the local stores first. The window trim color Lionel used is listed as "cream" in the factory paint chips, a sort of off-white. There's a lot of off-white paint sold in the stores that matches the "almond" color used on appliances for many years. Unfortunately, that's not a great match for Lionel's "cream" which has a slight yellow cast to it. Eventually I found a can of Rustoleum 2X in a decent color (327944 Satin Ivory Silk) that was a very close match; not perfect, but close.

I have a couple of sets of replacement water-slide decals for the 600s. I decided I wanted to retain the "601" stamped numbers, as they were in good shape. I masked those off, then gave the face of the insert a couple of light coats of paint, primarily in the area that had been damaged and cleaned off. I baked it for a few hours under my old desk lamp with a 60-watt incandescent bulb. This hardened up the paint pretty well. If it had been a nice sunny day, I'd have put it outside and let the sun do the work.

While that was drying, I scrubbed the car thoroughly with mild soap and water. Some of my tinplate friends cringe at the idea of using water, but I've had good luck with it. One just needs to make sure the piece is quickly and thoroughly dried afterwards. A soft cloth and a hairdryer is handy for this. After the wash, I cut out and applied the "OBSERVATION" decal to the insert. I used a bit of MicrSol on the decal to help bind it to the paint.

While this dried, I went over the exterior with a bit of Meguiar's Cleaner-Wax. This removes any remaining dirt/stains while leaving a nice bright protective finish. Buffing with a soft cloth and it looks almost like new (except for ninety years worth of well-earned scratches and chips). Here's a shot prior to reassembly (if you look closely, you can see the slight variation in the paint color where the numbers were masked):



Reassembly proved fairly simple. The key is to make sure the tabs are straight and at a 90-degree angle from the car side. If you do that, lining up the tabs with the slots is pretty straight forward. After all of the tabs are through the slots and the insert is tight to the car body, carefully bend the tabs back into position using the flat edge of the small screwdriver. Try not to break any tabs. I've had pretty good luck with this over the years, but you have to be careful.

Here's the car reassembled:



The last thing to be dealt with is replacing the frosted window glazing. I, for one, actually like the look of the car without the glazing, but I'll admit that the translucent glazing does a good job of diffusing the light from the single interior bulb. Finding a decent replacement is tough in my experience. I searched for awhile, and eventually came across some 6mil blank stencil material descibed as "milky translucent". Sounded promising, so I ordered a bundle from Amazon (12 pieces twelve inches square, it's likely a lifetime supply). It easily cuts into strips.

The original glazing strips were held in by small tabs on the inside of the insert, but I didn't want to be bending more tabs. So if I'm going to use it, I'll probably secure them with a few dabs of rubber cement or some Loctite GO2 glue. I haven't decided yet, but here's what it would look like with the glazing installed:



That's about it. I'll give the 600 and the 602 a good polish, then they will be ready to return to revenue service. The real challenge will be fixing up the 225E for the head-end, but that's a bit further down in the pile.

Picked up a Lionel 258 (late) online recently:



From the 1939-1941 era, the late 258 was an uncatalogued loco commonly sold in sets with O-27 tinplate freight cars (former Ives) and at least two uncommon sets with O-gauge 600-series freights.

Like most of the low-end stuff, these are tough to find in nice shape. Other than a few scuffs, this one is in nice condition.

Finally tracked down one of the bucket-list locos, the prewar 226E "Berkshire":



Found it in a lot listed in an online estate sale, it's tender had been modified to postwar trucks and couplers. I was fortunate to find a prewar tender chassis complete with original whistle-unit, trucks, and couplers. Easy swap and all is right with it. Needs a few replacement bits (smoke-box front for broken marker light, a pair of steps for the tender, a whistle casting for the boiler, and a hook for the box coupler), but we'll run those down over time. Still needs a thorough cleaning and lubrication...

I found this Lionel 816 hopper car in a box of toy train stuff recovered from my grandparents' house a few years back. It's not in too bad of shape, excepting the two spots on one side where some adhesive tape came into contact with it:



No longer one for bottoms-up restores, but this might need to be addressed. Perhaps just a touch-up with some matching paint...I don't know. Gotta think about it. It's the last car I need to complete a set headed by the 226E (191W).