Lionel Thomas upgrade

Chris Vernell

45.29 N, 75.75 W
Country flag
I finally got around to upgrading my first Lionel Thomas's pickup wiring -- Lionel's loco pickup is notoriously unreliable. My second Thomas, which bore the brunt of our show running for some years, has died, so the original No.1 must step up.

100_3252 (Copy2) (1).JPG
Ol' No. 1 waiting for the snip.

100_3252 (Copy2) (2).JPG
Inside. Lionel put plenty of slack in the motor's wiring. The rewiring consists of attaching a connector tail so Thomas can get lectrickery from LGB ball-bearing pickup wheels on Annie.

100_3264 (Copy).JPG 100_3265 (Copy).JPG
The "firebox". I sawed off the top to allow access to the wires.

100_3266.JPG Wires snipped.

100_3269 (Copy).JPG 100_3278 (Copy).JPG
Connector wire soldered on. The joints were coated with brush-on insulation, then the wires led through the topless "firebox".
100_3280 (Copy).JPG
Thomas's body replaced, and connection to Annie checked.

100_3252 (Copy2) (3).JPG
Much to Annie's surprise, the connection works.
Thomas (and James, who had tender pickups installed) works much better with the extra pickups.
Now I have to see if I can get a new motor for the other Thomas, whose motor seems to have burned itself out at the last show.
 
Good to see those old Lionel Thomas' are still running. The gearing on that one is in fine form, wheras I know that was often an issue too. There was a time 20 or so years ago when it was Lionel or nothing.......

James
 
Back
Top Bottom