Hi fellow train people. I’m a relatively new poster here on CTT Forum but after a short while I noticed something. Different people are repeat posting about basics like lubricating, caring and running their PW Lionel livery. When I got back in the hobby in 99 the owner of the local hobby shop recommended that I buy this book. I was in there to get an Eunit replaced and he mentioned that it wasn’t hard to do and it would save me big bucks rather than having his techs do it. He was right! It was all laid out in black and white for me to follow. Anyone who has PW Lionel should really consider getting one of these. It covers, in my opinion, everything a newbie or a veteran needs to keep our valueable toys in good shape. I got mine from the local hobby shop for 21.95 and it was worth every penny. I would suggest that you don’t settle for a substitute. This book is the bible and it’s proven itself over the years to have what you need to "keep ‘em runnin’!. It covers all of the Lionel stuff in that period as stated above, accessories, engines, rolling stock, operating accessories, disassembly and servicing of locomotives, servicing Eunits, smoke generators, troubleshooting shorts, open circuits, lack of power, I gotta tell ya, it’s a winner for all! After you get one how about posting about the first time it saved you money or just made you feel good because you did it yourself. Oscar
PS. I don’t work for Kalmbach but the people who wrote this book do, like Roger Carp, Kent Johnson and Terry Thompson to name a few. Same people who publish CTT wrote this book. That’s good credentials for sure.
It is a good book and everyone with more than a few PW trains should own one. I will mention that K-Line also published what appears to be a carbon copy of the book. I don’t know which came out first though.
I agree 100%. It is a great resource and reference.
Sir James you are right! I have both books and I have gotten some real good info from the Kline book also. It has more info on landscaping and building stuff to go on the layout. It even shows how to make a turntable from a metal O from the base of a lamp shade. It also has a lot of layout diagrams and I did in fact profile my previous layout based on one in th eKLine book. If I were strapped for only one I would pick the Greenburg book but if you can spring for both it would be a wise thing to do, you will use both. My KLine book is in tatters and held together by shipping tape also. VBG O
I have the Greenberg book and its great but even it leaves out some important details on some engines and operating cars. But I would not go without it.
Roger
Oscar, you’re right both about both matters: that the Greenberg manual is an excellent resource, and that some of the same basic questions get posted over and over, as new people (like you) come onto the forum. Forgive me if I’m amused however that one of the frequently recurring posts is the very one touting the Greenberg manual. I just did a search and found that it comes up about once a month!
By the way, it might help someone searching for it to know that the name is spelled “Greenberg”, not “Greenburg”.
I think it’s important for veterans like you to inform the newbies that this information is available to them and inform them once a month if that’s what it takes to get the info to them. Surely you must agree that this is the stuff that they should have, right? As far as the spelling of the book, who cares [edited by selector for content]? It’s close enough and if someone walks into a dealer and asks for it, is the dealer going to ask "Is that spelled wilth a U or and E? But thanks for pointing that out for those of us who are challanged. VBG BYW on a previous post you stated that solid and stranded, “Makes little or no difference” Wrong! Big Diff. and you should know that? Cross section, current carring, heat diss. and stuff.
Oscar, you’re preaching to the choir. You will notice after you’ve been here a little longer that I, and other veterans, often do post the same answers over and over to the same questions. They make up a significant portion of those 7000-odd posts. What I found amusing was that you seemed to be suggesting that pointing newbies to the Greenberg book would be a novel solution to that problem, when we have been doing it all along.
As for spelling, I don’t have a clue what VBG, and BYW spell. But I find that spelling does make a difference when you are searching through the tubes of the Internet.
Now, stranded wire. If you have some substantive argument (beyond “Cross section, current carring, heat diss. and stuff”) that it does make a difference, let’s hear it. The National Fire Protection Association will want to know about it before they finalize the 2011 National Electric Code.
I’m lost !
My “Greenberg’s Repair and Operating Manual for Lionel Trains” was published by Bruce Greenberg, in 1978, It’s a hard bound book 736 pages long. Is this what your talking about.
That’s it. It is a collection of reprints of Lionel service manuals and has itself been reprinted many times.
Don,
I have the original book that you are refering to. I also have the book that the others are refering to, a thick paper back, the seventh edition, published by Kalmbach, c1998. I received it as a gift this past Christmas and I refer to it all of the time. Both are great reference books.
John
I noticed that a lot of the newbies on this thread are noticing the book for what appears the first time. However it’s a great book and everyone should have it and it doesn’t take 7 thousand posts to realize that.
Wire and cable have certain physical characteristics and if there is a group of people discussing standards for wire and cable then they should be very aware of these. Skin effect, you should know that? Stranded wire is the wire of choice for most applications in toy trains. It is flexible, has less R per foot than equivilant wire in solid. Solid is good for trunk wiring and for certain terminatin requirements such as houshold wiriing because it’s easier to mass termingat. Stranded is good for GTH Technology and Insulation Displacement Technology and for plain old soldering the pick up roller assembly to the lighting assembly in an O gauge passenger car. So it does matter, and it matter a good deal if you decide and make the wrong choice in your wire. Solder a solid 18 gauge wire to a roller and in a week or sooner you will have to repair it. No mystery that’s the way it is! Why does stranded wire carry more current with less thermal aggitation? Basic physics. But you alread know that don’t you? I don’t think that there is any problem with PW, wiring, whistle tenders, smoke units or whatever that I haven’t been exposed to in my many years of toy train enjoyment, nope not one new one lately. This is not rocket science and most are a plain as the nose on your face. I’m not experienced in TMCC problems except the ground and power distribution systems. After that I’m a newbie and I wish there was an equivilant book with the basic drawings and explanations as the Greenburg. Dang I did it again. I went on line todaly and the internet engine brought up the book on all accassions. Funny thing there the internet is smarter than some of us think we are.
I only wish this book had a breakdown of the Lionel Lift Bridge and the schematics and me
“Wire and cable have certain physical characteristics and if there is a group of people discussing standards for wire and cable then they should be very aware of these.” I’m sure they are; and the result is that the National Electric Code makes no distinction between the electrical properties of solid and stranded wire.
“Skin effect, you should know that?” I know about the skin effect. I know that the skin effect makes no difference in the resistance of solid and stranded wire of the same gauge. This has been known for a very long time. [National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce, Circular C74, Radio Instruments and Measurements, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1937, pp. 300 and 306-307] Perhaps you are confusing ordinary stranded wire with litz wire, which would be very hard to find at your local home-improvement store.
“Stranded wire is the wire of choice for most applications in toy trains. It is flexible,…” I think we all can agree on that. Has someone here said that it is not flexible?
“…has less R per foot than equivilant wire in solid.” Not true. The resistance of a wire depends only on its material, temperature, and cross-sectional area, which is the same for two wires of the same gauge.
“Solid is good for trunk wiring and for certain terminatin requirements such as houshold wiriing because it’s easier to mass termingat. Stranded is good for GTH Technology and Insulation Displacement Technology and for plain old soldering the pick up roller assembly to the lighting assembly in an O gauge passenger car.” These are mechanical, not electrical, considerations. Even so, stranded wire is much more popular than solid for “houshold wiriing” outside of the United States.
"So it does matter, and it matter a good deal if you decide and make the wrong
the book remember the book?
I like stranded wire it’s flexible.
Some time ago, Bob actually hit most of these points when someone had legit questions regarding wiring their layout. He has also addressed the rest of the questions/statements regarding the wiring of such things as whistle tenders and lighted passenger cars.
Regarding questions by folks new to O-gauge and repairs, etc., I always suggest that they do a search of the forum with any questions as most, if not all have been addressed and you would have the information right away. Second, I have often referred folks to the Greenberg’s manual. Have even sent some new to the hobby a new copy of the book so they can enjoy it more.
Dennis
Bob I really don’t want to spend the time teaching basic electronics to someone who choses to be a snipe and jump on every post that I make and only criticize. I enjoy toy trains and I enjoy sharing the knowledge that I’ve acquired over the last 50 plus years. On boards such as these there is, or rather there should be camaradarie shared by those who participate. When this feeling of brotherhood is deminished then it’s just not fun any more. So OK Bob you win! You are right about everything! Now this will probably be my next to last post here on the CTT board. My last will be to tell TexasEd that he can have the second Lionel Lift Bridge, if it comes to that. Have faith Ed! As you can read from my tag line I’m against censorship in any form. I left the AOL Boards back in 05 for just that reason. Go back now and look at the AOL boards and see what they have come to under censorship and control by AOL.
Enjoy your trains and run them backwards once in a while, it helps align the atoms in the couplers. Bob you should have a real good time with that one. LOL
Oscar, if you think that my challenge to what is clear to me is misinformation, which you seem neither willing nor able to defend, amounts to censorship, then I don’t know what that word means. And you can only imagine how disappointed I am to miss out on those basic-electronics lessons, before they even started.
Sir James is right - this does seem to be getting a bit heated. Everybody take a time out and go run your trains and cool down.