Toy trains Archives

Why to never use steel wool to clean electric train track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 20, 2015September 2, 20173m, american flyer, hardware store, ives, lionel, lionel train, marx, marx trains, postwar lionel, tin

You may have heard to never use steel wool to clean electric train track, especially Lionel, but you may have never heard the reason why.

There is a good reason.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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How to attach wires to the posts of a Lionel train transformer

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 19, 2015November 24, 2016american flyer, lionel, lionel train, lockon, marx

It took me 20 years to find out I was connecting the wires to my train transformer wrong–and this applies to American Flyer and Marx just as much as to Lionel–and I don’t want the same thing to happen to you. I was making it far, far too difficult to attach wires to the posts of a Lionel train transformer.

Modern transformers have a groove in the post to accept a wire, but vintage transformers don’t. If you’re having problems with the wires coming off your transformer while you try to cinch them down, here’s how to connect to a vintage transformer in three simple steps.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 490 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 18, 2015September 2, 2017christmas, hardware store, lionel, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, stiff wire

Disassembling a Marx 490 locomotive isn’t too difficult, but it’s very different from other Marx locomotives.

Once you take one apart, though, you’ll see why it was designed how it was. It was Marx’s lowest-cost locomotive, and it could be assembled without tools, so the labor costs were minimal.

For that matter you only need one tool to take it apart, and since there’s so little in it that can break–not even a headlight–you can find anything you would need to service it at the nearest hardware store or auto parts store.

Dave Farquhar

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Testing electric train track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 16, 2015December 13, 2021american flyer, lionel, Lionel O27, lockon, marx, o27, s gauge, troubleshooting

I have a method of testing electric train track from Lionel, American Flyer, Marx or any other brand. The key is to test it one piece at a time, so you know any problem you found is isolated to a single piece of track.

Here are a couple of different ways to test, depending on what tools you have available.

Dave Farquhar

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Department 56 scale: The definitive guide

Dave Farquhar Model Building, model railroading, Toy trains December 14, 2015September 13, 2023

The breadth of Department 56 product lines, such as Department 56 Snow Village, is rather extensive, but there are items they don’t produce and likely never will. If you want to complete your village with other items, or use Department 56 in other settings, such as a train layout, then scale might matter to you—and Department 56 scale is undefined. Here’s how to make sure the things you want to use together will go together, size-wise.

The answer, by Department 56’s own admission, is that it varies. But since I see the question come up again and again, I’m going to tackle it. It varies, but there’s a method to it the madness.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 999 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 13, 2015November 19, 2018american flyer, boxcar, clearcoat, commodore, hardware store, lionel, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, metal polish, o27, tin, trainz

Disassembling a Marx 999 locomotive isn’t too difficult, and it’s easier than the Marx 666, but it helps to have some instructions.

The nice thing about the 999 is that if you can disassemble it, there’s a long, long list of Marx locomotives that disassemble in pretty much the same way: the Commodore Vanderbilt, the Mercury, the tin Canadian Pacific 391, and the tin steamers 592, 593, 594, 833, 897, 898, and 994.

Marx designed its trains so that a father or older brother could service them, so it comes apart with simple household tools, and you can get most of what you’ll need to service it at the nearest hardware store, with the probable exception of the bulb for the headlight.

Dave Farquhar

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Specs for the Lionel 6-12053 accessory wire–and how to make your own

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 12, 2015April 15, 2017lionel, train layout

A question the other day caught me off guard–how long is the Lionel 6-12053 accessory wire for Fastrack? I know a lot of random stuff off the top of my head, but I had to do some digging to find out it was 26 inches long–approximately.

Intended to clip onto leads on the underside of a Fastrack section, you can use it to power an accessory, as an additional power drop, or as an extension if the stock wires on your terminal section are too short.

If you need a different length, or need several and just don’t want to pay Lionel’s price, you can also make your own.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 666 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 11, 2015September 3, 2017hardware store, lionel, Louis Marx, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, o27, tin, trainz

Disassembling a postwar Marx 666 locomotive, or its plastic counterpart the 1666, isn’t too difficult, but it helps to have some instructions.

Marx designed its trains so that a father or older brother could service them, so it comes apart with simple household tools, and you can get most of what you’ll need to service it at the nearest hardware or auto parts store, with the exception of the bulb for the headlight.

Dave Farquhar

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Cleaning Lionel Fastrack

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 6, 2015October 26, 2021christmas, Cleaning Lionel, HO, ho scale, isopropyl alcohol, lionel, Lionel Fastrack, tin, tubular track

Lionel Fastrack has some advantages, but after a decade or so of using it under a Christmas tree, I have to say staying clean isn’t one of them. Here are the secrets of cleaning Lionel Fastrack safely.

Dave Farquhar

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