lionel train Archives - The Silicon Underground

K-Line trains

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 13:00:02 +0000

K-Line was a manufacturer of O gauge electric trains and accessories from approximately 1980 to 2010. Its scrappy, value-oriented approach to the hobby endeared K-Line trains to many of its customers. K-Line Electric Trains and Lionel tended to target one

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Where to buy Lionel trains in St. Louis

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:00:47 +0000

If you want to know where to buy Lionel trains in St. Louis, you have a lot of choices. It’s more than possible to make a day of train shopping in St. Louis. I’ve never seen a comprehensive list of

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Repair a Lionel train motor

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:00:46 +0000

If you want to fix a Lionel train, what you probably really need to do is repair a Lionel train motor. There isn’t much to the rest of the train. The motors tend to be pretty rugged and they’ve held

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Hipwell Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburgh

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 12:00:54 +0000

The Hipwell Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburgh was the inventor of the single-cell battery and a venerable producer of flashlights. As recently as 2002, Hipwell produced 2 million flashlights in the United States. The Hipwell (Hipco) single cell battery Hipwell built

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Bachmann vs Lionel

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 12:00:13 +0000

Comparing Bachmann vs Lionel is a contrast between two very old, established names in electric trains. Lionel, in one form or another, has been selling trains since 1900. Bachmann, the largest seller of trains in the world, was founded in

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O scale Christmas village choices

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 12:00:15 +0000

If you’re looking for an O scale Christmas village or O scale holiday village to go with a Lionel train or similar train of another make, you’re in luck. You have two good choices. The biggest names in Christmas villages

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Why the whistle button makes a Lionel train speed up

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 12:00:58 +0000

Last week a commenter asked me why the whistle button makes a Lionel train speed up. This behavior may seem unusual but it’s normal and solves a problem. Traditional Lionel whistles work by blowing a fan into an air whistle.

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Cleaning Lionel trains: A hobbyist’s advice

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 12:00:57 +0000

It’s that time of year again, when people start thinking about getting their Lionel trains out and setting them up, and sometimes, cleaning Lionel trains to make them presentable is necessary first. Fortunately, Lionel trains aren’t hard to clean. The

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How to sell Lionel trains

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 11:00:51 +0000

Since I’ve covered other makes of trains, someone asked me how to sell Lionel trains. So I thought I would give similar advice on selling Lionel trains. Lionel is an iconic, legendary part of Americana, so there will always be some market

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Lionel train won’t slow down? Here’s the fix.

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 12:00:32 +0000

Someone asked me recently why their Lionel train won’t slow down, and when I asked for elaboration, I learned the train wasn’t responding to the throttle on the transformer. Usually I see the opposite problem, but this one is an

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