I have a Lionel 2466Wx tender with no whistle mechanism at all. It has one truck that has the center rail roller but no wire and no relay mechanism. What is the best way to get the whistle back? I’d be open to a new electronic unit, maybe with bell & chuff, but I want to have it under the “old” Lionel transformer control. Thanks for your suggestions and help.
Williams and others have electronic units available. The other option would be to have it repaired to original specs by a place like “the traintender.com” or other such place. Or, you could chance the auction sites for a replacement. You have a few ways to go. If you want to have the “chuff rates”, etc, you may be looking at a more expensive upgrade from a place like “electricRR”.
Good Luck,
dennis
thankey,
Keep an eye on ebay. Or give Jeff at The Train Tender a call. His website is: www.ttender.com
I’ve contacted Jeff and he’s going to put together what I need. I’ll post how it works out. Thanks for your help.
You can’t go wrong with Jeff. He knows what he is doing and is a fair and reasonable guy. He’s saved my bacon on many occasions. Always willing to offer a solution or work you through what you need. Let us know how it goes.
Mike
Jeff is proviging the whistle unit with relay, soft wire, a pickup adapter for the rear truck and even the screws required to hold in the new parts. All I have to do is fasten it in and solder the wires to the pickups. I’m pretty excite about getting this going but Jeff is really doing all the heavy lifting.
That’s Jeff, he’ll take the time to give you want you want at a fair price and the guy’s busier than a one armed paper hanger as the saying goes.
Here’s another example, I called him awhile back to ask his advice on repairing my Scout motor, he flat out told me to forget it. Sure he could sell me all of the parts but he guaranteed that by time I was finished the aggravation alone would be worth him building the motor that went into the 2034 (what replaced those Scout motors) for me and I’d be pissed at him to boot. Or, he suggested, I find a junker Scout whose motor worked and swap it out. That’s what I did and glad I did. My point, he could have sold me the parts and made the sale, instead, he gives me sound advice built on years of experience and I continue to buy my parts from him.
Mike
The parts from Jeff arrived last night. The wire ends are even tinned. The tricky parts may be the proper unbending and bending of the tabs which hold on the new - additional center rail pickup. Also, I’m concerned about soldering on the wires and being sure that they don’t touch anything they shouldn’t which would cause a short.
thankey,
The safest way to install the plate is to use pliers to bend the bracket that each truck side attaches to and remove the wheels and axles. Slide the axles under the bent tabs, put the wheels back on the axles then reinstall into the truck. I have tried bending the tabs as you suggested, but I have had bad luck because the tabs break easily.
thankey,
The method to remove and install the bottom plate described by Jim is the only way I do it. I don’t actually bend the bracket, I pull the side plate out gently just enough to allow the axle to come out. Then I do not have to worry about re-bending the bracket. Either way works.
As for soldering the wires, there really no way to mess that up. The material below the tab does not conduct current and unless you use a glob of solder the size of a small boulder, the spring should keep the wire away from the top of the truck. Even with my totally inept soldering skills I have yet to have an issue. Go for it.
Mike
Well, the tender is working now and the whistle is fine. I had installed the additional center rail pick-up (new part) and soldered the wires from the whistle mechanism (old but just acquired) to them. Nothing! After piddling around with it for a short while, everything went off to Jeff at Train Tender.
He said there was a bad gasket in the whistle which he replaced. Also the truck studs and e-clips where in need of replacement, which he did. I had noticed that the e-clips were probably on their last legs.
He found that some rivets holding on the back of the whistle body had been abused; he replaced them with tapped screws. You may be able to see what it looked like “before” in the above image.
He found one last problem. The ball bearing at the bottom (end?) of the motor shaft didn’t seem to be the correct size. That has been remedied too.
Jeff did so many things to improve the situation that I’m unsure what was a single problem or if it was the cumulative result of a lot of smaller things. Guess I’ll never know.
Everything arrived at the office today. At home, a quick set up of my oval gave the satisfaction of an air whistle which really works.
It took a little longer and cost a little more that I had originally thought but the results are just what you’d hope for.