Hello Guys,

Long story short, I inherited a train set from my grand father that passed away 30 years ago. Recently I unboxed some of his old stuff and found the train. It appears it was used by my father to play with in his childhood and got forgotten for the last 40+ years.

Anyway, I open the box and found that the transformator was basicaly scrap, so I order a working one from ebay, it arrived yesterday. Promptly I tested the tracks and train. After some googling I found this nice forum that contains pictures of how the train is supposed to look like. And it is nothing like the one I have. After closer inspection I realized that some parts are missing, a lot of electric cabling is missing and one of the coils is kind of damaged.

I am attaching a link to google with the pictures of the parts that I think are missing/damaged.
https://plus.google.com/...2453118421041?banner=pwa

Do you think the trains is restorable?

Where can I get the parts?

Advice?

Many thanks?

Daniel

Thanks for the replay!

Here is the link again:
https://plus.google.com/...?authkey=CJ31rOr14tjh_AE

Also it seems the transformer is also damaged, at least there are some burn marks on the cabling.

Daniel

I have uploaded more pictures, including the transformers and the wagons.
For the transformer, left is old, right is new.

Same link.

Thanks for looking and helping.

Daniel

Daniel
The three passenger wagons are not worth restoring and are really beaten up. They might be worth $20 each. The transformers may be considered dangerous and could cause a fire if not fully rewired. However the DL800 is collectable as spare parts. It would cost 1000 Euros plus to get it restored and may be worth up to 1000 Euros when done. If you did it yourself you would significantly devalue it. If your not interested in selling and bothered about the value then you could do it as a labour of love. Spare parts would be 500 Euros. I would be tempted to sell and buy a better boxed one for the same money. To realise full value you would be better listing it on German ebay.
Roger
I just had a quick look at ebay.de and reviewed the selling prices. I think a more realistic value would be 500 Euros in its current state and maybe 800 Euros when restored. There have been excellent original green ones boxed sold for under 900 Euros. It's a hard decission from a sentimental viewpoint but you would be wasting a lot of money to restore in my opinion. In the not so distant past these models were more valuable but the internet has opened up the market and reduced their prices. Something that perhaps you would have never normally seen going to swapmeets or buying through a local sellers paper is now readily available at the flick of a few key strocks. Plus you can choose to spend as little or as much as you can afford.

Hi Daniel

I've looked at your photos and made a list of whats missing:

2 contact plates for the lights
2 contact plates for overhead use
1 pick-up shoe
3 drive shafts
2 pantographs
And of course, as you've noticed yourself, it's missing a lot of the wiring.

The reverse unit looks to be in pretty rough condition, so you might have to find a another one. But test it before you throw it away, it might still work and only need a resoldering.
The mechanical light switching mechanism (the one located in the unit without motor) looks to be missing a contact, but I'm not sure. I need some more photos.

A mechanical restoration isn't impossible, but it will cost at least 150 Euros to get the missing parts.

The condition of the paint is pretty rough, and I don't think you will get more than 400-500 Euros for the train as is. I would sell it as is and not take it apart.

Kind regards,
Thor

Daniel
Yes you can most certainly sell the DL as is and would be better than stripping it down. Someone will buy it. I would probibly sell everything in one lot rather than split up as the rest of the set has very little use except for some spare parts. You can look at the restorer called Ritter in Germany to check prices of some spares. I personally would not spend any money on the DL as it's not an easy project and should only be attempted by experienced hobbiest.
Good luck
Roger

Hello, Daniel,

as the others already stated, everything is in a rather bad state. It seems to have been stored under awkward, moist conditions that caused this much corrosion. When I saw model trains in a state like that earlier I was inevitably reminded of an ancient treasure buried underground in the soil and unearthed recently. Obviously this state can also be reached by just storing the items in a box in a moist cellar, garage or garden shed .

Here is my opinion:

- The transformers are definitely not worth a thought different from the scrap iron bin.

- The wagons may earn some Euros on ebay, but they are not rare items. Thus the 20$ mentioned earlier are a quite optimistic estimate. You can get better ones for that price. But if you are thinking about restoring anything yourself, you can use them to practice cleaning, re-painting and stuff like that without losing any value - and even if you fail and end up with torsoes stripped from any colour they could probably earn the same prices at ebay as in the state they are in now.

- The only item to really think about is the DL 800. A little thorough cleaning in warm water with a drop of detergent and a soft brush would probably do a first good job in order to reveal the actual state.

The parts of the motor and the reversing switch can probably be repaired. The wiring can be renewed easily, but describing this in the forum is a tedious task and I refrain from that. I would recommend that you look for some model railroader in your vicinity to give you advice or even do it for you. Missing parts is a different theme. The lamp contacts I would certainly replace, but regarding the reversing of lighting with direction of travel and overhead operation the question arises as to how you actually want to run the loco. If you do not put any emphasis on a close to original state, there are chaeper and more reliable ways to achieve this. I should think, about three to four hours of work of an experienced MRR person would leave the DL 800 in a perfectly operational, though not original, state.

When it comes to restoring the cosmetic state of the casings, professional work is strongly recommended. Here you can really spoil (reselling) value. But again, everything depends on what you intend to do with the loco. Having done some practising with the wagons, you can see how good you are technically and if you feel safe to achieve good results for your private use you can do the loco housings as well. In this case, I would not try to mimick the original design, but do another, more personal one that makes the loco uniquely your handiwork. For example, the front of the housing depicts the Santa Fe warbonnet. So why not make use of this fact and chose an ATSF llivery? - just my lightweight opinion -

Best

MS 800

Hello Daniel.
I have asked for access to view the photo's.

many regards Neil.