# Homemade Lionel Interurban



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

Posted this on another forum, and wanted to put it up here as well. 

While digging through a junk bin at my local hobby shop, I found a battered Lionel #36 Observation car buried under a pile of postwar equipment. It had been dented, painted a horrible drippy shade of greenish-gold, and every uncoated piece of metal was fuzzy with rust. It also had a power pickup crudely hacked into the center of the floor, and the holes appeared to have been punched with a nail. Obviously, I couldn't leave it there, but $25 was way too high, so I haggled down to $15 and took my prize home.

I don't like modifying anything in decent condition, so this pile was the perfect candidate for an interurban project.


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

The first step was to work out a way of powering it. I had used Tamiya gearboxes in a few robotics project, so I pulled a spare out of storage and discovered that it was a perfect fit inside the passenger truck.










The gearbox is held in place by inserting the shaft in the truck journal, and then bolting a piece of Erector Set over the center, using the holes that were already drilled in the truck. It just happened to be a perfect fit!

Next, I machined a pair of aluminum wheels that could be attached with set screws to the output shaft.


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

I test fitted the motor to the shell, and added a pair of repro brass pantographs to the roof.










Once I finished the rough build, I dipped all the painted parts in a can full of acetone to strip them to the metal.










I painted the car and roof bright red, the trucks flat black, and copper on the trim.



















The car is battery powered and runs on a pair of "C" batteries. It goes at a pretty good clip, and so far the motor/gearbox has been able to take the strain.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Cool idea, it came out nice! It really should be moved to the o gauge section. Have fun with your new , powered car. Thaksin for sharing. A mod will move this!


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

The #36 Observation is Standard Gauge, not O.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

It looked small next to the pliers for some reason? I must be tired! Sorry!


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

Not a problem! Compared to other standard gauge equipment, the early passenger cars are really small. It wouldn't look out of place behind a #256 if you added o-gauge trucks.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Did you place the battery pack over the power truck or balance it between both front and back,?


----------



## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

Fantastic job! I really like the lettering too, it came out great. 

No way you could of modified the lionel whhels to fit your motor shaft?

:appl:


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

I moved it around to figure out the balance, and found it gets the best traction when the battery is directly over the motor. 

As for the original wheels, they are basically hollow stamped steel sheet, so there isn't really any way to fasten them to a shaft except for glue or braze/solder, which would make it impossible to service the motor.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

The only thing I might do , and its only an opinion, we know what there like! Is to paint the erector set piece black to make it blend? And looking at te wheel maybe a bit of antiqueing, some gun blue on the wheel to dull it out. Match the others, BTW you should off your wheel skills, I could not do that! Greta job, how does it pull! Can you post a pic of the set screw, I don't do metal! Thanks!


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Fun project. Nice work.

How did you paint the copper trim? Fine brush by hand?


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

I actually like that the erector set piece stands out. I'm a fan of highlighting the structural elements of a machine. I think I will just let the aluminum wheel weather naturally to match tho. And here is a detail shot of tapping the set screw hole:










The copper detailing was a steady(ish) hand and a fine brush.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

You've got a plan , better then mine! Thanks for the pictures, I learned a lot from them, I still don't have the tools or the skills but at least I know how. I wondered how the set screw was drilled in, great job and im in awe of your all purpose adjustable wheel. They could come in handy! Once again, great job!


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

That's very cool, nice to have all the tools to create something like this.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

That's pretty awesome. Great job! Do you have any video of it running? Have you considered adding some speed control (if it's needed)?


----------



## njrailer93 (Nov 28, 2011)

that is really sharp. i would love to see it in action!


----------



## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

Nice job. I like customized stuff.


----------



## BWA (Jun 16, 2012)

That's neat.....


----------



## rrbill (Mar 11, 2012)

Great workmanship and a neat save!


----------



## hondajohn500 (Jan 17, 2015)

A quick low-res video to show the operation of the interurban.

XXXX


----------



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

LOL cute. Was that a battery pack you were installing at the beginning?

Hey, never mind, I just read back to the beginning, and see where you built it with battery power.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

That's really cool. The speed is just about perfect.


----------



## rrbill (Mar 11, 2012)

Who, seeing the shape it was in when you bought it, would ever have believed it could be made to look as good as it does now, and could be made to operate - at a realistic speed, no less?
Really inspiring work there, Hondajohn.


----------



## upsman55 (Jan 11, 2013)

Nice project. I like the old stuff myself, and that's a pretty cool idea to make it drive itself.


----------



## larry g (Oct 8, 2012)

Beautiful Work!!! 
Both in Form and Function. 
Cudos!


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Too bad I can't make the wheels, I'd like to power a couple standard Lionel trucks, that would be very useful!


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

John, sounds like your club should purchase a small lathe, Just think of all the small brass parts you could make. 

I like that motorized unit! Well done!:appl:


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

T-Man said:


> I like that motorized unit! Well done!:appl:


Me too nicely done. :smilie_daumenpos:

This is the first time I am seeing this?
Was this just recently moved by someone to the Tinplate forum?

Back when he posted we did not have a Tinplate section yet....did we?
It must have been in the other forum?


----------



## longbow57ca (Oct 26, 2015)

Hello my friend, I love your small metal lathe that is very cool to see. You sure did nice job on that standard gauge observation car and nice paint job too I love it too. Thanks longbow57ca. Have a great day.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

T-Man said:


> John, sounds like your club should purchase a small lathe, Just think of all the small brass parts you could make.
> 
> I like that motorized unit! Well done!:appl:


There is a lathe at Henning's Trains that I can use anytime I like, I just have no idea how to use it!


----------



## Firewood (Nov 5, 2015)

Maybe the original blacksmith missed the mark by putting the roller in the center of the car. Wouldn't it have hopped off the center rail at the first curve?

Great piece of work there. Hoping to get a China lathe soon and satisfy my speeder and other SG ideas. Thanks for the great pics and video.


----------



## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> There is a lathe at Henning's Trains that I can use anytime I like, I just have no idea how to use it!


I'm sure you could figure it out pretty easily. Working with brass isn't too difficult at all. It just takes practice. There are probably a lot of youtube videos out there if you look around that would give you a good start with working on it.


----------



## Firewood (Nov 5, 2015)

Nice work! That's a great outcome for finding an old hack-job. I'm mentally filing that Tamiya gearbox idea. 
I saw a "rare Bing trolley" on the bay a while ago that definitely showed someone had poked some holes, run a few wires and put an oddball power truck on an old passenger car. I liked your price better! Congrats on a nice job.


----------



## rrbill (Mar 11, 2012)

Hondajohn, Good eye for seeing the potential in that battered little fella, and kudos for the skill displayed in its restoration. Great save!


----------

