At Christmas each year we set up the old Lionel set under the tree, along with houses and other buildings, people, automobiles, farms with animals, etc. The old freight cars, though still in decent shape, have been replaced with new, themed cars. But the old Lionel engine is tired and temperamental. The brushes need to be replaced. The reverser switch won't work unless you smack the engine a few times. And anyway it looks wrong with the newer freight cars. BTW, the set was a mother-in-law hand-me-down from 1953. It'll be seventy years old next year! So it's time for a replacement, right? We want a diesel, not another steamer. But the prices I see everywhere (both in stores and online) are out of sight. We don't need anything fancy, and I just cannot see spending hundreds of dollars for new engine. Is there anywhere I can buy a new engine for less?
Fix the old girl. Be a sentimentalist. Besides, she'll be more reliable than a new one, if you spend even half as much on her as you spend on a new one. The E unit (reverser) can be bypassed. Affordable was never Lionel's strong suit. Not in '53, not in '35, not in the seventies when their quality was arguably at it's nadir, and not now.
If this leaves you with any questions, or yours differs enough from this model to throw you a loop, get back with us.
If you decide to not repair the old engine, just set it aside. It can be fixed. But that price might be a question. Knowing prices of new items, it might be a good option to repair... If you have modern cars, you will probably get the best fit purchasing a diesel. Perhaps look at the banner ads here on TrainBoard. (Help support us and those advertisers.) At least one of our advertisers (Trainworld) carries "O" gauge trains.
Probably the "E Unit", what Lionel called its mechanical reverser. I'm not a Lionel expert, but from what I've read, these are fairly simple to repair. I'll bet there are a number of helpful websites and videos for this. It'd be nice if you could hang onto it. Lionel trains from the early 1950s were made during Lionel's best years of the Post War Era.
If smacking the locomotive works, so does the E unit. It just needs a tiny bit of lube. I did say tiny. Oil conducts electricity. So, I heard the new E units are electronic. Does that make them eE units?
Speaking of that @MacMacMac , Lionel E Units are dependent on gravity, so it you turn the locomotive on its side or back with power hooked up, the reverser will fail to operate. Yes, @acptulsa , I think you'd be right on the eE units. Seriously, I've read that they work well and are maintenance free.
If it's the 1953 track, the ties are as aluminum as the rails, and the center rail is insulted with something that looks like cardstock.
