I have been looking at the possibility of purchasing a Lionel 8111 DT&I NW2 Switcher Engine and I have a few questions.
On Ebay I have seen them for sale and some appear to have operating couplers and some do not. Were they produced both ways?
I assume that they don’t have Magnatraction but do they use traction tires?
The drive wheels have metal gears, but are the intermediate idler gears nylon?
Do they have 3 position E-units (forward-neutral-reverse)?
Using reference material, this is what I’ve come up:
Greenberg’s Guide to Lionel Trains 1970-1991 states it came with operating couplers.
Don’t know. No reference.
Same as 2.
Greenberg’s same book states it has a 2-position manual reverse unit.
The only variation listed in both Greenberg’s and Doyle’s books are the color of the marker lights (red or green), and some came with a radial antenna, some didn’t.
If I remeber correctly they have metal gears, got rid of mine a few years ago and seems it had operating coupler in rear anyway don’t remember the front . I like mine and it ran great but I decieded at that time to try to goto one roadname well I’m now on 3 but atleast they ran across each others lines in the east here .
I also seem to remember 2 postion eunit.
They came from the factory with non-operating couplers.
Yes, the engine has diecast zinc (ZAMAC) wheels with traction tires
I;d have to look at one, but I think they are plastic. I don’t know why folks are so concerned about metal versus plastic gears. I have had locos with worn out metal gears and bearings, while the plastic components were just fine.
Manual reverse, a switch with it’s lever sticking though the roof.
Thanks all for the information.
They came from the factory with non-operating couplers. I found that the 2338 coupler assemblies will fit the 8111 to make them operable.
Yes the intermediates are nylon.
I have seen the 8111 produced with roller only pick-ups, (contacting a metal piece inside the truck) and rollers on armed pick ups. I do not know when they were changed.
Kurt
Early MPC DIesels used scout type roller pickups, which turned on an axle that cast right into the motor housing (just like real scouts). These locos had trouble getting though switches, uncoupling tracks, etc, so Lionel redesigned the pickups to have those little metal arms. As a work-around, Lionel put 2328 style pickups on some of the early Geeps (perhaps others too). My original 8031, purchased when it was released from Lionel, had both. I also have paperwork from Lionel asking dealers how many fix-up kits they needed to correct the problem with their left-over stock. I’d have to pull the papers, but I think the repair was free for any customers that complained. I don’t think my 8031 was fixed at the dealer, because I purchased mine from Savoy Merchandise in NYC, which was not a tradtional outlet. They certainly didn’t do repairs. While you could walk in and make a purchase, they were mainly jobbers.
As far as I am concerned, these early MPC diesels are certainly collectable. I see prices rising rapidly.