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Lionel 2034 locomotive repair

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 5, 2016December 29, 2017american flyer, electric trains, lionel, Lionel Postwar, marx, metal polish, old trains

I have a Lionel 2034 that had a bent cab I fixed, but it ran poorly too. It would run, but only in super slow-mo, and that was when it would run at all. If I was really patient, sometimes I could get it to run a little after a few minutes, but it had minimal pulling power even then. So I took a shot at Lionel 2034 locomotive repair. It was successful.

The motor needed some maintenance, but it didn’t need any parts. Here’s how I fixed it in less than an hour.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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You can’t collect everything

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Toy trains July 9, 2013November 21, 2018atari, lionel, Lionel Postwar, marx, nintendo, o gauge, postwar lionel, tin, video game, yahoo

There’s been a fairly spirited discussion lately in the always excellent Yahoo Marx Train group about the merits of Marx tin trains versus plastic ones. Some people like them all, some people prefer one or the other, and almost everyone with a preference is apologizing to the people who prefer the other.

That’s part of what makes that group great–the lack of elitism and looking down on others whose preferences differ–but in my mind, there’s no apology necessary because very few hobbyists have the time, space, or budget to collect everything. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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How to make a Lionel train whistle

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 20, 2011April 18, 2017diodes, lionel, Lionel Fastrack, Lionel Postwar, lionel train, lockon, train show

How do you make a Lionel train whistle? Well, you need a whistling tender and a transformer with a whistle button or handle. If it’s all wired correctly, pushing the button or handle while the electric train is moving will make it whistle.

And if it doesn’t, let’s try to figure out why.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Lionel 2026 or 2037 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains April 16, 2011February 14, 2017hardware store, lionel, Lionel Postwar, Lucas Red, postwar lionel, PTFE, train show

Years ago, I tried to take apart my dad’s Lionel 2026 to fix it, and I gave up trying to figure it out. Today I scored a similar 2037 locomotive at an estate sale in fixer-upper condition. To my knowledge, no book has ever gone into detail on how to disassemble this model, so I’ll explain it here. This time I was able to drop the motor out to get at what I needed to repair it.

There are also five additional Lionel postwar-era locomotives, the 637, 2016, 2029, and 2036, that come apart the same way.

Dave Farquhar

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