Well, I’m not Captain Kirk trying to find a pair of whales, but I do have a Lionel 256 with the older “humpback” motors that need to be rescued for the model’s future. I know where to get a missing brush plate, but both motors are missing their armatures. I’ve looked around at what the parts dealers have, but I haven’t seen any armatures for these so far. Does anyone know if there’s anyone carrying these, or do I just need to keep an eye out for parts on eBay? And is there any specific part number to go with these like some of the other Lionel motors?
I don’t know for sure if Trainz has them, but I would have gone to Trainz.com first.
According to the diagrams from the Olsen’s Toy Train Parts library, the ‘humpback’ motor armatures were assigned part number SL-15. The pinion gear on the end of the armature shaft has the part number SL-85.
Hope this maybe helps some. My inclination was that Henning’s Trains or Jeff Kane might have them, but it doesn’t look like either carries the SL-15 armature. They do both carry the SL-85 pinion gear, though.
-El
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If trainz.com doesn’t have the parts they might have a 256 not in the best of shape that could be cannibalized for the needed parts.
I was going to suggest Henning’s but it looks like it’s been tried already without success.
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That’s true–parts engines are always a good way to keep stuff working, because if something else breaks chances are it’s there too!
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@Darth_Santa_Fe found this thread, think it might be useful to your persuit:
https://www.modeltrainforum.com/threads/prewar-motor-armature-gear.201502/
It never progressed to the point of a resolution, but having seen past examples of your resourcefulness I do wonder if you might be able to pull something off using a more common style of armature. I suspect the odds of finding an original SL-15 on its own, in any condition, are very slim.
-El
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Thanks for all the responses! I checked the parts at Trainz, Henning’s and Train Tender and didn’t see any of the SL-15 armatures, so I might just have to take some measurements and adapt something else to fit. As long as I can find the right armature diameter and minimum shaft length, I think I can work something out.
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Could you not machine a proper shaft, cut or etch out the requisite number of laminations for the armature, and then conduct one of the ‘rewindings’ I see YouTube videos demonstrating? Two razor-blade edges carefully leveled would work as well as agate rails to balance the result…
The SL-15 was originally ‘made to a price’ so I doubt there is Packard-Merlin main-bearing metallurgy or exotic commutator fabrication involved.
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I’m open to rewinding and armature for better operation, but cutting out my own plates may be a bit much with the tools I have available. 
I think I got something figured out! I remembered that there was a good prewar Lionel armature in a bag of parts that came in a lot a while back, and if I remove the damaged gear, it will be a perfect fit! I checked around eBay and found a lot with 1 more of the same armature in decent looking condition, so I’m going to try getting that and then just test, clean and resell the others I don’t need.
For anyone else looking for a replacement armature for one of these humpback motors with the 12-tooth gear, it’s 1.25" in diameter with a total height of 0.78" for the windings and flat commutator, and then the shaft is 1/8" and needs a length of at least 1.25". Not sure if it’s the same for the ones with a 10-tooth gear.
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