Lionel Burlington Northern Engine

C

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Dec 4, 2006
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0
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St. Joseph, MO
Just picked up this little Burlington Northern engine for my daughter's HO layout. I grew up around BN back in the day before BNSF so I was happy to find this. One thing I noticed about it though.... Doesn't Lionel believe in handrails??? ;)

Either way, my daughter and I both like it. We're going to set up her track and run it through it's paces tomorrow.
 

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Heya,

If it's just a "beater" engine for your kids to abuse, yeah I wouldn't bother putting on handrails... They are delicate and they break easy (which is why the original handrails are gone!). :D

If you do want to restore that loco for sentimental reasons (assuming that the mechanism actually works OK), Smokey Valley sells a GP30 handrail kit, but it requires soldering skills-- You have to solder the brass .015" wire handrails to the included brass stanchions. Those can look REALLY good though if you know what you are doing.

Hope this helps!
 
LongIslandTom said:
Heya,

If it's just a "beater" engine for your kids to abuse, yeah I wouldn't bother putting on handrails... They are delicate and they break easy (which is why the original handrails are gone!). :D

If you do want to restore that loco for sentimental reasons (assuming that the mechanism actually works OK), Smokey Valley sells a GP30 handrail kit, but it requires soldering skills-- You have to solder the brass .015" wire handrails to the included brass stanchions. Those can look REALLY good though if you know what you are doing.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thanks. :)
I don't tink I want to get my soldering iron anywhere near a plastic body though.
I'm not that skilled. :D
 
Enjoy the time you have with your daughter and your hobby together. They grow up so very quickly. Great pic Dave H ,Maine
 
Cannonball said:
Thanks. :)
I don't tink I want to get my soldering iron anywhere near a plastic body though.
I'm not that skilled. :D
Click to expand...

LOL, of course you don't solder the handrails while they are on the loco body-- You do it on a jig first, then after the assembly has been soldered and painted, you install it onto the loco. The below locomotive I detailed shows off how the Smokey Valley handrails look:

IMG_0359.jpg
 
green_elite_cab said:
lol, there is An HO scale PRR Lionel set with a shorty E33 (it has B-B trucks)! i feel like i should buy it, but i need to resist the urge!
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Now that I have one in HO, I'm still trying to find a mean green in O27 for my layout.
My wife might beat me to death if I buy another engine though. :eek: :D
 
LongIslandTom said:
LOL, of course you don't solder the handrails while they are on the loco body-- You do it on a jig first, then after the assembly has been soldered and painted, you install it onto the loco. The below locomotive I detailed shows off how the Smokey Valley handrails look:
Click to expand...
Those look good! I might have to look into a set of those before long.
 
If you want a set of hand railings that were like the original Lionel plastic railings, the railings from a Bachmann GP30 will work as replacements since they are the same locomotive produced by Kader but sold under the Bachmann name.
 
Wow.... I'm almost heartbroken. :(

We set up my daughter's track this morning and the engine barely runs. If you give it a tap, it will make it about halfway around the track and stall out. I cleaned the wheels good. The track is clean and our other two engines run well so I don't think it's the track. I don't know what's wrong with it.

Bummer.

I e-mailed the seller from the eBay auction to see what they want to do about resolving the issue. Hopefully I'm not stuck with a piece of junk. If so, I suppose I can take it to an LHS that does repairs and maybe get it functional again.
 
Yeah Lionel got out of the HO business decades ago.. Their HO stuff isn't exactly top-notch to begin with.

If you want a nice GP30, you ought to look into getting one made by Proto 2000. Those have all-wheel-drive flywheel-motored mechanisms and they run real nice.
 
The mechanism *is* still working, so all hope is not lost, it sounds like it's just crudded up with old grease or the contacts inside are dirty, both simple fixes. If you like her, keep her, she'll just need a little TLC to run reliably again. Remove the shell and clean the grease and gunk out of it. Also check for lint, hair, etc. Since that is a trainset engine, it may have just been played with on the floor, which causes lint, dust, hair, etc. to wind itself around the wheels. Try that.
 
CCT70 said:
The mechanism *is* still working, so all hope is not lost, it sounds like it's just crudded up with old grease or the contacts inside are dirty, both simple fixes. If you like her, keep her, she'll just need a little TLC to run reliably again. Remove the shell and clean the grease and gunk out of it. Also check for lint, hair, etc. Since that is a trainset engine, it may have just been played with on the floor, which causes lint, dust, hair, etc. to wind itself around the wheels. Try that.
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OK.
What do I clean the engine with? I don't want to use anything that might further damage it. I haven't even figured out how the shell comes off yet. I might just try to find someone who can clean it up for me for a small price just to be safe. I know next to nothing about HO models.
 
It'd likely require disassembly of the locomotive itself, right down to the wheels. I did that to a Proto SD-9 a few days ago and it's a little daunting at first, but after you've done it a few times, it gets easier and easier. Let me put it this way, it only goes back together one way :D

Then you can clean the individual parts with a toothbrush in warm soapy water like I do and re-lube everything with light oil once assembled.

It's kinda like taking apart my old Colt. sign1

It is enjoyable though and will dramatically increase the performance of your new iron horse. Give it a try. :thumb:
 
CCT70 said:
It is enjoyable though and will dramatically increase the performance of your new iron horse. Give it a try. :thumb:
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OK... Hopefully I don't completely destroy it in the process.
It might become a weekend project.

Why couldn't we have disected model trains instead of frogs in Biology? :(
 
LongIslandTom said:
Look at it this way... You can't put a dissected frog back together again to make it run (jump?) better, but you can a model locomotive. sign1
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I'm not convinced I can do it with either one, yet. ;)
 
don't worry, its exceedingly easy. A few good pictures of the bottom of the locomotive would probably reveal how to remove the shell. if you need any more help, just send more pictures of the trouble spots!
 
green_elite_cab said:
don't worry, its exceedingly easy. A few good pictures of the bottom of the locomotive would probably reveal how to remove the shell. if you need any more help, just send more pictures of the trouble spots!
Click to expand...
I'll have to take some pics tomorrow. I'm working until 11:00 tonight.
If you really want to call it "working" :D
 
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