I had a post before but needed more information. I found an ebay entry selling a refurbished engine and tender with the train I possess. He has a starting bid of 139.95 for the engine and tender. Anyway the train I have is a lionel PW 221 2-6-4 Hudson steam engine and 221W tender. The wheels are frozen and wont move using your hands. One reply was probably a good one of taking it to a hobby shop for repairs. If anyone else has ideas how to release the frozen wheels would be appreciated. Also do you think the ebay starting price is high for a refurished engine and tender of this model. Thanks for any information.
You may wish to repost your question on the CLASSIC TRAINS forum. That is where most the Lionel collectors are and you will get more of a response there. Good luck.
It could simply be dirt, corrosion, or old lubricants preventing the motor or gears from turning. A more serious possibility is zinc rot, where the wheel castings swell and crack. It’s very common in old Lionel locos, and replacement drivers are available.
I would ask your question on the Classic Toy Trains side of the forum as suggested for more info.
Lionel locomotives are repairable. As a child I was able to take my Lionel completely apart and get it back together, running, with just ordinary hand tools. Parts are still available. Try Googling on the part number, either of the part, or of the locomotive itself. There is a chance you can find a shop manual with an illustrated parts breakdown somewhere on the web. Or you can buy them.
Many Lionel locomotives coming out of long term storage are clogged with sticky grease and dirt to the point where they don’t run anymore. A disassembly, cleaning, and relubrication is often all that is needed to get them running again.
Lionel is a collectors hobby now. Value of equipment varies wildly, with some models and years being insanely expensive and others only pricey. Condition is also a huge factor, and hard to evaluate without actually having the model your hands. It takes a fair amount of expertise to tell the insanely expensive from the merely pricey. I lack such expertise, so I won’t offer an opinion as to the ebay starting price. There are books (pricey in themselves) that give the estimated value of various Lionel items. Naturally the given prices are the prices at the time the book went to press.