Restored, 1948 726 Berkshire 2-8-4 photo

Classic Toy Trains Forum
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I thought I would share my restored 1948, 726 Berkshire 2-8-4. I finished wiring this today, new light and about to start working on the 2426w tender tomorrow. I tried to link this photo direct to this post, but who knows what I’m doing wrong. Here is link for you to view on shutterly.com

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZNHLJu4ZN2F7

I could use a little paint on this, but I am not going to touch it up. It looks great as it is!! I know one guy on here that will like the tubular track, so here you go!

Enjoy,…

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Looks Great!

Dennis

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while the engine is great, it is the tubular track which really accents it’s beauty.

A 726 is just ne of the best engines ever in my opinion. Yours looks outstanding.

ps: Don’t paint - 60 years of battle scars give it character.

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Hello Doug! Your 726 looks nice. Hope you have many more years of fun with it. Take Care.[:)]

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Looks great!!!

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Doug, I’m jealous! Still looking for one of those for my layout. Enjoy your 726!

Jim

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Thanks gents,…

I am surprised that after 45 years in the attic, this unit runs as though it is brand new, of course I replaced the following; brush plate, e-unit, brushes and springs, lamp lead and lamp assembly, hand rails, boiler front, side rod assemblies, collector insulator and terminal and a new set of ball bearings and thrust washers front and rear. I struggled a bit with an armature replacement, but used my original and it works very well. Also a little problem with worm gear alignment issues, meshing was good, but side to side end-play with axle and worm gear travel from left to right caused binding, in the forward direction. I will need to make a jig to shift this worm wheel more to the left. [I’m using a shim/spacer over the axle right now to keep end-play to a minimum. Right side]

BUCKEYE, thanks for adding the photo above. Adding photos here is my down fall, I find it easier to fix trains,…

ps,…I will be adding my own proto-sound system to this,. it will be a reel to reel tape recorder and my grandson making choo-choo sounds and whistles!! [:D]

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What a beauty!! Great work. Do you have before and after shots?

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GRANPA! Just let me know when you need me for that recording. Do you want 4 chuffs per rotation or 2…? Will work for ice cream. [swg]

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I will attempt to post before and after shots. Not good at posting photos but will share a link to shutterfly.com.

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ATSjer and to all, Here is a link to shuuterfly.com so you can view 15 pics of before, after, and during restoration. [There is a slideshow function on this site.]

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZNHLJu4ZN2GE

Enjoy,…

12

Very nice! Thank you for sharing. Please post a pic of this beauty in action.

Regards,

John O

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Well done Granpa!

I really liked to see your pictures of the restoration process. And it looks so good now.

Just one question: did you replace the rods or did you clean the corroded nickel and replated them? One of the photo’s shows the original state of one of the rods and I wondered how you went about and made them shine again.

Greetings

Eggo

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Lovely. Just lovely.

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That’s a beautiful piece! The wheels turned out especially well. I agree with Frank53…You won’t want to slit your wrists the first time you bump it. I just refinished a 2338, and had a head-on (adjacent tracks too close, running in opposite directions) with my 1666 of my childhood, lots of grief for about a week, and then started running again with reckless abandon…

Kurt