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 Posted - September 23 2012 : 11:38:56 PM
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A potential customer dropped off an couple pieces for me to possibly service and restore. Turns out the locomotive is a Varney... I had a hunch (lucky guess?) and the 1941 catalog on HO Seeker confirms it! However, it is missing several key parts:
- pilot truck
- trailing truck
- tender
- couple of miscellaneous stanchions and small bits
I'm guessing pre-war since the frame and most parts are brass stock, under an incredibly heavy cast boiler. I don't know much about Varney, let alone the older stuff. In fact this is the first loco of this kind I have even touched, possibly seen.
Do any of the old salts here have any parts, or know more about this engine? What other parts sources can I look at for donor parts? The customer is not terribly picky, he just wants it completed such as his dad may have built it originally.
Would like at least a ballpark guesstimate as to how much it might cost to get these parts, before I quote him for the job...
Very grateful for any assistance...!
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Posted - September 24 2012 : 05:15:23 AM
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Spider Hi there ! You need photos of what you need. Also PM Mustang and trains, with a photo of what you have. He may be able to supply a photo of the exact parts you need. If you are lucky the parts. Posting those parts photos would help alot. If the customer is not fussy as you say any trucks that fit and work may do. Many older locomotives were upgraded using beter detailed lead and trailing trucks. If he wants the exact parts for the engine, he is fussy. Us old timers that have parts, parts we aquire at shows, didnot come with a manufactures name and part number. Those are things that if we are luckey, find out.
Goodluck Spider.
toptrain
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - September 27 2012 : 3:48:10 PM
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| I don't think he's be that fussy... if it's functional and looks reasonably and period correct, he'll be happy. That said, I've been too busy on other projects this week (I haven't even tried to see if this thing runs, or even looked at it since) but will try to get some photos in the next day or two. Thanks!
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Posted - September 27 2012 : 7:52:30 PM
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Tony,
Call me. I throw some on your stack. I have to get your package out the door anyway. Having a third party waiting for it will only help in getting my arse motivated to finish fulfilling your list.
I guarantee I have your parts.
I have acquired more since taking these photos. I must have ~120-130 pounds or more in Varney locomotives like the ones shown above. This does not even include any of the ~75 Varney Lil Joes I have... at just under a pound each... LOL!
Sean
"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!" - Mario Andretti!
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Posted - September 27 2012 : 11:37:19 PM
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crazy idea! Use some of the parts at either a repair shop or a scrap yard scene on a layout 
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Posted - September 28 2012 : 12:57:30 AM
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Sean, I can see why you'd make that guarantee! If only ending "tag" was so simple! 
Here's the patient:
I'm really intrigued by the paint. It almost looks like a poor attempt to repaint into a Southern Crescent.... or a good attempt at camouflage... but there are no layers or brush marks where one was applied over the other - it's like the paint faded this way (!?). And I have stripped other items of old black paint that seemed green underneath; until now I attributed that to some sort of primer or old undercoat. So does anyone know more about vintage paints and pigments? Was old black paint green underneath?
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Posted - September 28 2012 : 07:46:34 AM
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Sean ; After reading this.
[quote
I have acquired more since taking these photos. I must have ~120-130 pounds or more in Varney locomotives like the ones shown above. This does not even include any of the ~75 Varney Lil Joes I have... at just under a pound each... LOL!
________________________________________
Sean
end quote]
I hope you store all your trains on a concrete floor. The weight of your collection my cause a wood floor to collapse. It is a heck of a way to lose a collection, as to have a house fall on it.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
Edited by - toptrain on September 28 2012 07:47:44 AM
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Posted - September 28 2012 : 08:11:44 AM
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That's funny Frank! LOL!
Let me tell you, my wife is none too happy about any of them. As for storage.. they are all on a heavy duty rolling steel shelf... on a concrete floor. I plan to move them upstairs once my train room is done, but I have put 2x12 floor joists up there to carry the load. The Jacuzzi tub was only secondary to that thought process... LOL.
@ Tony.. That is a later 1950's Varney Economy Pacific. The earlier versions had an all diecast chassis. Either way, we have the parts. Send me a list.
Sean
"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!" - Mario Andretti!
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