While cleaning out my mom’s house I found out the hard way that most of my dad’s train sets were sold at some point. He got into G and I figured he just got interested in it and was giving N and O a rest.
Anyway, I I did find a 1948 Lionel 1101 (from my grandmom) that needs a good cleaning and new insulation. is it worth it?
The 1101 has always been one of my favorite scout locos. It had a very good 1655 motor with a three position E unit. I have customized these with added details, swap out the tenders and added realistic paint schemes and lettering. Enjoy your 1101!
I’m a huge fan of the scouts myself. Something about them just screams “Lionel!” to me.
Becky
Me personally, I think they are junk. I hate repairing them for people. They were cheap starter set engines. But if you like them great.
Roger
Ah yes, but not this one. This locomotive is definitely worth getting repaired. Made in 1948 only and sold in only one uncatalogued set, it has a much better motor in it than all the rest of them. The motor, as mentioned, came in the 1655 and also the 1656.
As for any other scout locomotives (with the exception of a very few), they are total junk.
Trevor
I kind of think Scout’s are the 2-4-2’s with the plastic motor. Prewar 2-4-2’s have more complete valve gear than postwar and therefore much better.
I agree with Trevor. The 1101 is an unusual Scout engine, cast metal body, metal motor, 3-position E-unit and headlight. The sliding pickup shoes for the center rail work great, although they do wear if you run the engine a lot. The only other good Scout engine is the 2034. It is similar to the 1101 but also has good roller pickups instead of sliding shoes.
I would also agree that all the other 1100 series Scout engines are junk. Plastic bodies with plastic case motors that are very difficult to work on and an unusual 2 position E-unit that is inside the motor housing and can be erratic. Couple that with the roller tube pickups that don’t work well, and an engine that can only pull 4 cars and you will see that these are Scout engines to stay away from.
Dave…I was waiting for your reply on this one, as you have that 1 Scout with the slopeback tender and white driver sides that I like what you did with it. I have an 1101 and good motor for it that I found in a box of trains I bought, and as time allows hope to get it looking like yours.
Alan…Here is a photo of my 2034. I was lucky and found this engine in a box of junk engines for $10 each at a train show a few years ago. I was rumaging through the box of cheap plastic steamers and as soon as I grabbed hold of this cast metal engine I was impressed. The engine was complete and after cleaning it up, it runs great. I repainted the engine satin black and the front boiler silver(although gunmetal gray would be more prototypical). Then I used a white paint pen to color the sides of the wheels. The slopeback tender cost me another $10 and I painted it and made a sticker for Per Marquette on the computer. I also added handrails along the boiler using music wire.
Enjoyed your picture very much. I have attached one I did about twenty years ago and it still runs great. Three position E unit, roller pickups, roller pickup onthe operating tender truck, side rods, handrails, cab detail, lathe turned bell and whistle and handrails. Some call these little locos “junk”?
Thanks for posting the picture Dave, again you did a great job, and it represents another avenue of this hobby where you can take something that someone considers junk, and make it something you can be proud of on your railroad.
I considered these 2-4-2’s a bargain back when I went to train shows a lot and was buying. Some i paid as little as $10 I have 21 of them all have the metal motor except one. I have several Fundimensions starter set loco’s too so thats more.
Bit late to this thread, but to question the “all scouts are garbage except the 1101”, there are a few other scouts to look out for:
-The 233 is plastic, but features magnetraction and a liquid smoke unit.
-The 235 and 236 are plastic, but feature a liquid smoke unit and single-axle magnetraction
-The 241 features a diecast shell, a liquid smoke unit, and a traction tire.
-The 245 is plastic, but holds status as the only scout locomotive to be equipped with both magnetraction and added weights to boost tractive effort. It unfortunately has no smoke unit though!
-The 251 isn’t exceedingly exciting, but it was only produced in 1966, and it does sport a diecast boiler, and a traction tire.
-The 1120 is near-identical to the 1110, with the difference being that it sacrificed a working headlight in favor of magnetraction
-The 1654 and 1655 are limited by their lack of traction aids, but they do feature that rugged all-metal construction of early postwar steam locos, and feature 3 position reverse units.
-The 2030 is basically a 1110, but with a metal motor and 3 position reverse unit. It does lack traction aids.
-The 6110 has a diecast boiler, magnetraction, and a smoke unit, which operates by air wafting through a hole in the front of the loco, to create a draft for the smoke to follow out the smokestack
These I would consider to be the highlights of scout production, along with the aformentioned 1101.
For the record, I learned about these through exploring the lovely Tandem Associates “postwar lionel” library page- it’s pretty handy for looking up which production locomotives were outfitted with the nicest features.
I have a pre war 1664 2-4-2 out where I can see it. I don’t know if all 2-4-2’s are considered Scouts. Anyway it must be one of the best with full valve gear, a more detailed die cast shell, a frame around the trailing truck, a swinging bell, wire handrails, headlight.
1684 also pre war has wire handrails, die cast, decorative bell, whistle, headlight