Lionel and MTH Hurricaine Mathew Triage!

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I live on ICW in coastal NC. The water breached the sea wall and came into my RR room, under the table, on the lower floor of my house. Stayed for about 15 miniutes then receded.

I have (3) casualties:

a Williams A-A F7

an 0-8-0 MTH Rail King steam switcher

a '58 Lionel 746 N&W Niagra (yeah, that one hurt)

The MTH and the Williams were in their boxes stood “on end”, the high water mark on the box is about 3". The N&W 746 was on her side in her original box.

I’m going to spray them down with WD-40 and take a tooth brush to what I can’t get apart. The electronics in the tender of the 0-8-0 is probably shot, but if I can salvage the engine, I may be able to get a new circuit board for the tender.

I know the prospects are dim, but I would be interested on what you guys would do in a similar situation. They will become static models at the very least if I can’t save them.

2

Before you go the WD-40 route I’d try blowing the things out with compressed air. WD’s a great moisture displacer but I don’t think I’d want it around any electronics that might be salvageable, boards or motors. You can get spray cans of compressed air in the electrical sections of well-stocked hardware stores or electronic supply stores.

You can also borrow the wife’s hair dryer to put some heat in there to dry them out. Go ahead, she won’t mind.

Let us know how it turns out.

3

Your postwar Lionel 746 might just come out OK. A while back, a relative had his kid’s 1960’s Berkshire set submerged in water for several days. The family didn’t do anything special to dry them out. Eventually they took them to a repair shop where they were told the trains were hopeless.

A few years later, I learned of what happened and offered to take a look at them.
After a careful cleaning, the engine and tender came back to life. After derusting wheel sets and replacing metal door guides the cars were OK too.

The track and transformers were discarded.

4

you also may want to use a electronic cleaner, they sell it at Home depot it’s CRC or something like that.

5

the 746 should be fine. I’ve bought several Postwar steamers that looked like they spent time under water.

6

Considering that the whole eastern portion of NC seemed under water at times, there’s gotta be many similar stories out there. Try using CRC 2-26 around the electrical components. Good luck.

7

I have a Rail King 0-8-0 switcher from the 90’s that blew the electronics after years in storage. I am in the process of converting it to TMCC with electricrr.com DC commander and sound board.