This Loco Hasn't Run in Over 50 Years - Let's Make It Run Again!

I loved your almost confident catch phrase. “We’ve got a... run... ner.” Haha. Great job as always.

I have the exact same locomotive except it is in Baltimore & Ohio "livery". In the box like this one too. It was my Dad's from way back in the day. I put many miles on it under the Christmas Tree in the 1980s. It's in storage now. If I ever get it out and it needs a rebuild I will use this video as reference. Thank for keeping the old Tyco-Mantuas running.

I found you by chance a few weeks ago SMT, and I just have to say. Thank you. You're break down and repair for a junked Lionel Engine a month or so back gave me the confidence to take a crack at repairing my own 0-4-0 lionel dockside switcher. It hadn't run in over 10 years, and hadn't run well before then either. I had taken it to a repair shop 9 years ago, and was told that it wasn't worth fixing, that it would cost too much to fix what was wrong. Well after watching your video, I managed to not only get it running, but I got it running so much better than it had before it stopped too. The only money spent was on some fiberglass pencils, and the lubricant and grease for the engine. SO from the bottom of my heart, thank you ever so much for giving this amateur repair enthusiast the confidence needed to bring a piece of his childhood back to life. Now I just need to find an old Pullman carriage to go behind it, to complete the old look I want for that engine. :D

You are so good at repairs. Now I want a Tyco steam engine. Thanks.

4:21 my brain instinctively made me think I was smelling that old model train smell, you know the one that's slightly burning mixed with old oil

I received a tyco set for Christmas in 1970 (I was 5 yrs Old) which included a few cars, a log dumper, AND THIS engine. It hasn't run since maybe 1973. I still have it, and started to disassemble it a few years ago, but stopped (life happens). All the parts are in a container. It was great seeing this video and how you troubleshot it. Although I'm not running HO at this time. I'm going to try to get it to run again. I'll definitely look at that unsoldered wire. Thanks for sharing

Great video!!! You my friend are a gift to the hobby! Keep up the good work and once again thank you.

Me about to sleep Smt “ let’s restore some 50 year old train

This is a 1965 or older RTR Tyco Mantua (or a newer kit build). In 66 they updated this loco to a plastic boiler and smokebox center lighted headlight. The box is from pre 1967 and for a small RTR. The kit came in a closed cardboard box. They stopped offering The General (advertised on that box) as their RTR old timer, in favor of the lighted larger Dixie Bell 10 wheeler (Petticoat Junction, Green Acres Cannonball #3 TV celebrity). Mantua kept selling the older die-cast boiler small engines as kits into the 70s and 80s. The cab on this 0 4 0 is the same cab they used on the Tyco vaguely P7 Pacific and their Mikado. The best visual upgrade to those locomotives is to replace the very small 0-4-0 cab with a scale larger cab.

now the engine hasn’t ran in 22 minutes :D

I found a 1950s-era Mantua or Tyco 4-6-2 which hadn't run in decades and appeared to have lain in water for a while. There was quite a bit of corrosion on the diecast parts and the motor was rusted solid. Managed to clean up the motor and it actually ran surprisingly well, better than some newer motors.

Tyco Mantua use to make really nice locomotives then they went their separate ways and tyco started making some real junk, the bodies were nice and worth repowering with say an Athearn drive. Mantua made some really nice engines after they seperated steam and diesel, I have a number of both. I believe the motors in those were D77's and were a very good little motor. As I have said in recent posts on your sight, whenever I can't get something like that running I will take out the motor and make them a dummy and run them behind a powered locomotive, they look just as good and happy. Love your videos and the way you explain things.

Put another tic in the success column, Harrison. She's a runner! It's actually a nice little locomotive with a slope back tender. She'll run for another fifty years with proper maintenance. Thanks for sharing. 👍👍👍

Interesting video. I think I need to have a chat with my (almost 80) mother and see if she still has her 40's era Lionel train. If so, I will ask if she would give it to you. Wouldn't want a profit - just payment for shipping and the effort. UPS store ain't cheap when it comes to packing potentially fragile and valuable items. It had the locomotive, tender and several cars. Some in the original box, some not. It also had the original transformer, A cousin and I dug it out of the attic and got it running one Christmas. Most of the original track was gone. We went to Colonial Photo and Hobby in Orlando. We learned Lionel trains were so popular all parts were still available (in 1983). They even had flexible track you could bend. We got it running in the wee early morning hours of Christmas by doing what you started with - putting it on the track, sending the juice, and giving it a push. Here's how little I know about trains; I thought that ozone smell was a GOOD thing. Mom burst into tears when she saw it running Christmas morning. After watching your video i am positive beyond doubt you could get it running. IF IF IF IF she did not dispose of it when she moved into retirement community before my Dad's death, I'm almost certain she would rather have it in the hands of a collector who would cherish it as a part of their collection instead of sitting in a box in her storage shed. She would ask only that you produce a video like this of making it run again. If that is the case, how can I contact you?

Awesome restoration! Keep em coming! Take care!

This young man know how to save locomotives,very good

I got one of these a little while ago from a viewer as well. PRR livery on the tender and I basically fixed it up just like you did. Runs pretty well, tough little things.

I believe I’ve got that same model, stashed away in a storage bin, that I bought at The Hobby Bench in Glendora, back in 1972 or 1973.

I just realized how much times you have uploaded at the same time i have my late night snack! Its like a ritual now where i watch your videos at night! Edit: are you thinking of doing more O scale anytime soon? Just curious

BTW... There are DC throttles on the market that provide speed control equal to DCC. as they send out pulses to the loco so they start realistically slow and smooth. They seem to have lost favor