Model Train Journal

While I was in Louisville last month, I stopped by Roundhouse Electric trains.
I could not resist this cheapest of Lionel Trains General Mills era, an 8302 locomotive for $20.

The 8302 is the cheapest AC current engine. The DC only engines with the same body but smaller tender are cheaper. I bought one of those also ($15.)

Nice little universal motor in the 8302.

The 8302 has a couple of long forgotten features.

1) No rubber traction tires.

2) A light bulb with a blue glass bead inside.

My Southern Railroad train on display.

I had to shorten a piece of Fastrack to fit the upper shelf of my workbench.
I always used a hacksaw to cut tubular track. This time I decided to try a table saw.



Not bad.

Very cool, Wayne. Your 8302 looks to have a slightly altered body of the Lionel 1001 from 1948 which, according to various sources, was the first plastic-bodied locomotive made by the company:



I had one of the 1001 locos here for a few years, then sold it in one of the previous cullings (sic) of the collection. It had the plastic Scout-type motor in it with the directional switch sticking up through the top of the boiler (as seen in this photo). The 1001 also featured Baldwin-style drivers which, I believe, were different from those on the diecast Scouts. The 1948 version of the 1001 had the tin 1001T coffin-style tender which originated before WWII, but later models had a slope-back plastic tender (don't remember the number for that one).

Your 8302 looks sharp in the Southern scheme. The tender appears to be equipped with the mechanical "Sound of Steam", or whatever they called it, which was basically a big wheel with some bits and baffles in it that rolled along the third-rail to provide a "chuff" as it went down the track. At slow speeds it seemed to work, but at high speed not so much.

An interesting photo of workers assembling toy trains at Gilbert's American Flyer factory (looks like 3/16" O-gauge no.565 Atlantics), shortly before the changeover to war production:



The caption reads: Conversion. Toy factory. These two girls, Stephanie Cewe and Ann Manemeit, have turned their skill from peacetime production of toy trains to the assembling of parachute flare casings for the armies of democracy. Along with other workers in this Eastern plant, they have turned their skill to the vital needs of the day, and in many cases have seen to it that the machinery they used to use does Uncle Sam's most important work today. Stephanie, left, is assembling toy locomotives, driving screws and nuts with an electric screwdriver, while Ann is at her peacetime job assembling locomotive housings to their chassis. Today both girls are working with electric screwdrivers, assembling parachute flare casings. A. C. Gilbert Company, New Haven, Connecticut

Dated February, 1942.

From the Library of Congress.

What blade did you have in the saw to cut the track? I considered postwar 2-4-2's a bargain and have several, all with the metal motor. I have a Fundimensions 8204 4-4-2

v8vega wrote:What blade did you have in the saw to cut the track?

This blade...

Decently clean cut for a 24 tooth blade, Wayne.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Decently clean cut for a 24 tooth blade, Wayne.

I went slow.

24 teeth at 5800 RPM = 139,200 CUTS/MINUTE = 2,320 CUTS/SECOND
Feed rate not measured but about 4 seconds which works out to 9,280 cuts across the 3.375 inch width or one slice cut off every 0.000365 inch.

webenda wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Decently clean cut for a 24 tooth blade, Wayne.

I went slow.

24 teeth at 5800 RPM = 139,200 CUTS/MINUTE = 2,320 CUTS/SECOND
Feed rate not measured but about 4 seconds which works out to 9,280 cuts across the 3.375 inch width or one slice cut off every 0.000365 inch.

Not sure what the rpm is on my radial saw but I generally have a 60 tooth 10" blade on it as standard.

I'm a bit surprised you got such a nice clean cut of the metal rails without tearing them loose from the plastic base. The rails look pristine post-cut. I never would have tried that.

healey36 wrote:I'm a bit surprised you got such a nice clean cut of the metal rails without tearing them loose from the plastic base.

As was I.

What I posted is the result without any clean-up after the cut.

If it makes any difference the blade was raised to maximum because I wanted to minimize the time the teeth were in the plastic. Normally when I use the table saw on plastic I have to clean a lot of melted plastic off the cut edges.

I bought a Harbor freight metal cutting bandsaw years age when I was working on my hot rod cars all the time. Like many tools that you don't use a lot it's sure nice to have when you can use it. I have been laying my hand curved Gargraves lately and it cuts that nicely.