Good morning all, My name is Jason and I'm brand new to z scale and fairly new to model railroads. I still have my father's O Scale Lionel from 1946 that runs on a circle track around our Christmas tree and when I was younger my father and I made an attempt at N scale...but I always thought z scale was something special. For this Christmas my wonderful wife bought me a used Marklin 81565 starter set (which came with an additional misc. box car). After a tiny bit of oil and cleaning the wheels and track it runs like a champ. And as fate would have it the Great Train Expo is in town tomorrow...so of course now I have to go and check things out. BTW, I'm in the Kansas City area, but relocating to Dickinson, ND in the latter half of next year. I'm excited to try my hand at making a small, simple, table top layout. Hello everyone! Jason
Welcome to TrainBoard! Great to know you still have that old Lionel. What a treasure! Please tell us if you find anything interesting at the train expo.
Welcome aboard, Jason. Z scale certainly does seem to be rowing a bit, at least to judge by some of what we see here. I think you'll find lots of help and encouragement, and it's great that "the boss" is behind you.
Thanks. It was his train when he was a boy and I remember him working on it back in 1980. The last time I remember seeing it was in the mid-80's. After my father died in the 90's my stepmom boxed up the train and sent it to me. It sat in the box until this year. I finally got it out, and after a bit of goo gone and some elbow grease I got it up and running. It still doesn't have the power to pull the cars, which I think is attributed to the sad state of the track which over the years has become corroded and bent in places. I think some new track will bring it fully back to life. Jason
Thanks, she's pretty supportive on most things. And her hobby is making custom cakes and she is constantly buying new 'caking' tools so she understands a bit...though she actually makes a little bit of money off her hobby!
Definitely sounds like your track has seen better days. That engine should have plenty of power to pull. Make certain all wheels and pickups are clean, not badly worn. Hopefully the motor brushes are not too far gone. Make certain any lubrication is very light and a type intended for such use.
Thanks. I haven't used any lubrication as everything is fairly free moving and it's not as clean as I would like yet. I did take it apart and the brushes still looked pretty good and I cleaned them just to be safe. Each of the poles on the motor were pretty nasty so I cleaned those up as well as the wheels. All of that helped quite a bit. It also appears to randomly go forward or backwards and I read this might have something to do with the switch in the train as it is known to go out. So I will probably have to replace that. The light has gone out too, and I'm not sure why. It was working just fine. I pulled it off to clean the contacts...now it doesn't work...and it still looks fine. I imagine there is a loose contact somewhere. I've been using goo gone for cleaning all the metal parts and contacts. Any recommendation for another type of cleaner?
Jason, first of all, welcome aboard Trainboard. Next, like Boxcab, I am interested in your late dad's Lionel. Which locomotive is it?
It is a 1946 2020 with Atomic motor. I also have the tender, three cars, caboose and a small vehicle that has its own engine and runs on the track. I have no idea what it is. Its orange and has a guy sitting on it. There are bumpers on either end that when you push one side in the car will switch directions. I also have the original transformer, and a few old metal buildings. It is all in fair condition, my dad obviously played with it quite a bit when he was a boy. Jason Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
Hi and thanks Ironhorseman and Hytec. Glad to be here. Just about to head out to the train show! Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
