Making Tunnels: Part 3

Part 3 of a short tutorial on making tunnels

Making Tunnels: Part 2

Part 2 of a short tutorial on making tunnels

Making Tunnels: Part 1

Part 1 of a short tutorial on making tunnels

5 Tips To Restore Your Old Lionel Trains

by Nathan Griffin

Has your Lionel train seen fresher days? Wouldn’t it be pleasant to see it chugging around on it’s track once more, beaming the same sweetheart as the day it was seen that Christmas morning so long ago?

Repairing and reconstructing your old Lionel train can be very accomplishing. You can savor in the warm glowing of memories of past, and so make new memories to go on with them!

The nice thing is, you can do this yourself with just a little patience and know-how! Once you’ve fixed it, conserving your old train’s glory is for the most part a topic of a pat of oil nowadays and so in the exact positions to keep it running smoothly.

How do you reconstruct Lionel Trains?

The introductory step in restoring an old Lionel train is to make it all cleaned up.

Rub it all off with a soft cloth to get rid of junk and stain.

You can take out rust with rust remover or sand paper. If you see green or crusty white spots, that is oxidisation, and you can get rid of it with oxidisation remover.

The final part in your cleaning is to wipe down the tracks, the wheels of the cars, and any moving parts with a light oil spray. Use Q-Tips soaked with the oil to get into smaller areas, like the wheels, and use a soft cloth soaked with the oil for the tracks. Buff it all up with a clean part of the cloth.

Put a pat of the oil on some running parts, and function it in so that they run smoothly and easily. You can utilise a toothpick to catch tiny pieces of oil for the reasonable areas.

Now that it is clean and shining, you can begin your repairs.

Make sure all the pieces of the path blended together tightly. If they don’t, and then bend the connectors back into position with moderate pairs of pliers. It might take a few attempts to get them merely right, merely you should be capable to get a hard fit.

Take the bodies off of your cars, and visit the insides. Clean them as earlier, and attend for broken functions. It Is truly simple to exchange these sections yourself. You can buy them at a Lionel trains specialization store, some hobby storehouses, or order them from Lionel trains functions catalogs. Simply unscrew them and screw in the replacement part.

Lastly, does your train move? See it after you’ve cleaned it all, because built up dirt and grime could cause the connector ‘tween the train and the track to be so hard that it keeps it from running. If its clean and still doesn’t run, check to see if the plug is working. If the plug appears Right, it may be that the transformer wants repair or substitute.

You can find detailed directions about how to make the transformer, and every of the different regions of Lionel trains at LionelManuals.com. They have a 2 CD set of full guides, blueprints, and diagrams for all Lionel train manufactured from 1906 through 1986. The set also takes on a parts and accessories catalog for your convenience.

Use the repair manuals to complete any other necessary repairs for your train.

Ready to hold your Lionel train, plainly keep it clean and furbished, oil the moving parts every so often, and it should make you many more yr of enjoyment!

About the Author:

Get you hands on over 2000 pages of rare lionel train repair manual catalogs and learn how to repair trains with the most comprehensive antique lionel trains guide.

Toy Fairs And Train Shows For The Week Ending 14 December 2008

Toy Fairs And Train Shows For The Week Ending 14 December 2008

Date	Event	Address	Time	Adult
13-Dec	Big Southern Promotions - Hampshire Model Railway Exhibition and Fair	Court Moor School, Spring Woods, Fleet, Hampshire., GU52 7RY	10:30 - 15:30	Adult: £2.00 Child £0.50 OAP £1.50
13-Dec	First Bangor MRC - Christmas Exhibition	First Bangor Presbyterian Church Halls, Main Street, Bangor, Co Down., N IRELAND	10:00 - 17:00	Adult: £2.00 Child £0.50 OAP £0.50
13-Dec	Redruth Model Railway Club - Christmas Show	Redruth Community Centre, Foundry Row, Redruth, Cornwall., TR15 1AN	10:00 - 17:00	Adult: £1.00 Child £0.50 OAP £1.50
13-Dec	Rhyl & District Model Railway Club - 7th Annual 1-Day Charity Model Railway Exhibition	The Presbyterian Church Hall, Nant Hall Road (off High Street), (Near Iceland/Kwik Save), Prestatyn, Denbighshire., WALES	10:30 - 16:00	Adult: £2.00 Child £1.00 OAP £1.50
14-Dec	J & J Fairs Ltd.	The Knavesmire Stand, York Racecourse, (South side of city, off A64 bypass), York, Yorkshire., YO23 1EX	10:00 - 14:30	Adult: £2.00 Child £1.50 OAP £1.50

Adding Switches and More to Your Oval Model Train Layout

Adding Switches and More to Your Oval Model Train Layout

Let’s see what you can do with an oval on a 4′ x 6′ board. The first step toward variety of train operation is a pair of switches. They usually come in pairs, a right-hand and a left-hand switch.

You can tell which is which by looking at one from the end that shows only two rails. If the curved section turns out to your right, it is a right-hand switch, if to the left, it is a left-hand switch.

Some switches are made to work by hand, with small throwing levers on each switch. Others are actuated electrically by a control lever any distance awayon a control panel, for example.

Remote-control switches are more expensive than manual switches and are worth the extra cost when a single operator must handle everything on a pike, including switches at some distance from his train control on the transformer.

If switches are within reach of the transformer, however, they can just as well be manually controlled. If in addition to the “engineer” there is always a “switchman” available, he can handle manual switches at some distance from the transformer.

If you buy, in addition to your long oval, a pair of switches, two more curved sections of track, and four straight sections, you can make add two sidings to your oval.

With this layout you can have two freight stations on the sidings, with cars sitting on them waiting to be picked up by the locomotive.

If you attach uncouplers to the sidings, you can detach cars without touching them just by pushing a button on a control box placed near your transformer. Uncouplers can be attached to either straight or curved track with two-rail S-gauge trains.

If you like switching operations, you can buy another pair of switches, two curved sections of track, and two half-length straight sections, and sidings to your sidings.

The shortest sidings here are not very long, but they can hold a freight car or two, which will make for complications and complications are what make model railroading interesting. (That’s just another way of saying that there is a great deal to do!)

At the risk of appearing a bit ridiculous but for the purpose of showing just how much switching you can go in for on a 4′ x 6′ layout, you can even fit 5 levels of sidings on both sides of your oval.

Sidings are not, however, the be-all and end-all of railroading. You can use your first pair of switches, if you wish, to make an inner curve on your oval.

But you would like some sidings? Then add them to the oval with the inner curve.

Or you can add a second inner curvemaking an oval within an oval.

These are a few ideas for things you can do with a simple oval layout to make it more interesting, while keeping the space required to a minimum.

(Visit http://www.modeltrainreport.com/layout-examples.php to see diagrams of all the layouts in this article)

Bill Murphy offers advice about designing, building, maintaining and repairing model railroads at the Model Train Report website. Find out more about building your own model railway - sign up for my free “Model Railroad Design Secrets” e-course at http://www.modeltrainreport.com/course/

Toy Fairs And Train Shows For The Week Ending 7 December 2008

Date	Event	Address	Time	Adult
6-Dec	J & J Fairs Ltd.	The International Hall, Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood, Essex., CM15 9NN	10:00 - 15:00	Adult: £2.00 Child £1.50 OAP £1.50
6-Dec	Mirfield Fire Station Sports and Social Club - 18th Mirfield Model Rail Exhibition	Mirfield Fire Station and adjacent halls, Huddersfield Road, Mirfield, West Yorkshire.	10:30 - 16:30	Adult: £3.00 Child £1.50 OAP £1.50
6-Dec	Swindon MRC - MODRAIL 2008	Greendown Community School, Grange Park Way, Grange Park, West Swindon, Wiltshire., SN5 6HN, UK	10:00 - 17:00	Adult: £3.50 Child £1.50 OAP £2.50
6-Dec	Yealmpton Community Association - Model Railway Show	Yealmpton Community Centre, Stray Park, Yealmpton, Plymouth, Devon., PL8 2HF	10:00 - 16:30
7-Dec	Barry Potter Fairs - Stafford	The Prestwood Centre, Stafford County Showground, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffs.., ST18 0BD, UK	10:30 - 13:30	Adult: £2.50 Child £1.00 OAP £2.00
7-Dec	J & J Fairs Ltd.	The Exhibition Centre, Norfolk Showground, Dereham Road, Norwich, Norfolk., NR5 0TT	10:00 - 15:00	Adult: £2.00 Child £1.50 OAP £1.50
7-Dec	J & J Fairs Ltd.	The Civic Centre, Chesterfield Road, (Inner Ring Road), Mansfield, Nottinghamshire., NG19 7BH	10:00 - 14:30	Adult: £1.50 Child £1.00 OAP £1.00
7-Dec	Swindon MRC - MODRAIL 2008	Greendown Community School, Grange Park Way, Grange Park, West Swindon, Wiltshire., SN5 6HN, UK	10:00 - 16:30	Adult: £3.50 Child £1.50 OAP £2.50
7-Dec	West Sussex O Gauge Group - Shoreham Christmas Exhibition	The Shoreham Centre, Pond Road, Shoreham, West Sussex.	11:00 - 17:00	Adult: £2.50 Child £1.50 OAP £2.00