LGB Stainz and Motorized Tender questions...

jgallaway81

jgallaway81

Registered
First off, an apology to the hard core LGB fans who think that kitbashing an original German-made LGB product is blasphemy... SORRY.

Okay, anyways. In 1986 my dad sold off his entire collection of Lionel to get the money to buy me an LGB starter set. When I began the plans for my Freedom Central Railroad, the first thing I need to do was find/invent a story to justify the 0-4-0T meter-gauge Stainz on an industrial shortline in Western New York. (just a touch south of Buffalo). The story was invented and refined over the years, leaving me with a need to rebuild the engine to match the story. Some spare parts off ebay to repair the damages of 20 years at a kid's hands and I was off to the races.

The story calls for the engine to be rebuilt for American service including the construction of a small slope-back tender (Aristo.. they actually look good together.) As time wore on though, my railroad plans got bigger, and the grade from my backyard to my front yard is going to require helper engines. Since the Stainz can handle itself on this grade, I wanted to power the tender for a bit more pull... maybe three cars instead of two. However, I really don't like the looks of the original powered tender.

My thoughts are to rebuild the slopeback I have using an power brick from LGB to match the speeds. However, since those tenders are commanding a premium over the engine, I thought maybe I could get an abused stainz off ebay and salvage the drive, replacing the locomotive wheels with tender-like wheels. Does anyone know, will the basic Stainz motor block fit the chassis of the tender, or did they use a completely different motor block design?

Thanks for any help.

-J.D.
 
the stainz and the motorized tenders use the same motorblocks.
both with the older split-motorblocks or the newer with a lid on the underside.
the wheels are the same diameter. the only difference concerning wheels:
while my locos all got spoked wheels in either black or red, the tenders have solid wheels in the same colours.
 
Well, since you have first hand knowledge... are the gear ratios between teh old and new versions close enough to allow an old Stainz to run with a new tender?
 
yes.
there are no two stainzes of mine, that run exactly the same speed. same goes for the tenders.
i generally try to pair them in such way, that neither of the two should gain more than two 1foot sections of a R1 circle per round.
but i had paired stainzes with playmobil tenders, playmobil locos with LGB tenders as well.
i don't think, (after more than 40 years of stainzing) that some difference will damage anything.
for optical reasons it would be nice to put the item up front, whose motor starts at lower voltage. (doesn't look good when the tender pushes the loco into motion)

btw: i got some of my stainzes earmarked as well to be converted to tenders.
 
jgallaway81 said:
I thought maybe I could get an abused stainz off ebay and salvage the drive, replacing the locomotive wheels with tender-like wheels. Does anyone know, will the basic Stainz motor block fit the chassis of the tender, or did they use a completely different motor block design?
Click to expand...
If the motor block is off a Stainz you don't need new wheels, just remove the motion & cut the projections off the wheels. The Stainz have disc wheels the same as the tenders.
 
jgallaway81 said:
First off, an apology to the hard core LGB fans who think that kitbashing an original German-made LGB product is blasphemy... SORRY.

-J.D.
Click to expand...

Blasphemy? why yes, we carry that product...;)

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i stand corrected:
i wrote: while my locos all got spoked wheels in either black or red,...

dutchelm said:
If the motor block is off a Stainz you don't need new wheels, just remove the motion & cut the projections off the wheels. The Stainz have disc wheels the same as the tenders.
Click to expand...
looking again i saw, that the original stainzes that i got, have solid wheels with some little holes in them, while the amercanized stainzes have spoked wheels.
 
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