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I recently purchased the Lionel Train Service and Repair Manuals CD set. Here is my review of this product!
A little about myself; I am a LCCA and TCA member and have been a train collector for almost 20 years. Though I have not had a chance to build a layout yet, I have been collecting mostly Lionel Postwar trains and accessories. I also collect trains and anything with Frisco Railroad on them and recently started collection the Atlas-O billboard boxcars!
This item comes in a two CD set and believe me when this site says there are over 2000 pages of blueprints and 400 diagrams, there not blowing smoke! Though I’ve not viewed every file, I’ve scanned over most of them and there’s loads of good and interesting information on them. All the repair manuals, catalogs and instruction manuals are photocopies of all the pages of original period Lionel manuals and service bulletins. It even includes parts lists for some of the products produced until 1986. Everything is easy to read and the format is easy to use. There is even a bookmark index you can click on, on the left side of each file to help locate specific files within each section.
Using the Adobe zoom feature, you can zoom in for closer detail and you’ll need to, to be able to read some of the text and see the detail. You can also print out the pages you need and bring to your workbench to conduct your repairs, which I highly recommend if your computer is not on the bench! There’s enough information here for the beginner or the advanced collector to use and enjoy, no matter what era you’re into!
The instruction manuals included are excellent resources for set-up, wiring and operating postwar locomotives and accessories. They also show original track plans, layout ideas and designs and how to’s on layout building including scenery tips!
There’s more for the Prewar enthusiast than anything else. In the 1930-1940 Service Manual (which includes some info that carries over into some Postwar items) includes instructions and testing for the Electronic Set, instructions and testing procedures for the 5C, 5D, & 5F Bench Testers, repairing trucks, directions for assembling the Bild-A-Loco, servicing ZW, KW, Z, V and a bunch of the smaller transformers like the popular 1033; also repairing track switches and operating track sections! Did you know there was a coupler adapter made to couple older Prewar type couplers with the later knuckle couplers? I didn’t, until I found it in here!
The prewar catalogs are if nothing else, fascinating reading as well as reference material, showing some early history of the Lionel Company. It gives you a look into the past at how they advertised during that era, by using product comparison and durability also showing early 20th century pricing. What I also found interesting was the early transformers using a light bulb screw socket to access electricity instead of a receptacle plug. Along with the various buildings, accessories and even Lionel produced scenic layouts, many items are not often seen at train shows.
Below is a list of files for each disc. These are the actual file titles:
Contents of Disc #1
1915-1942 Numbers List
1930-1940 Parts List
1930-1940 Service Manual
1946 Instructions
1949 Instructions
1970-1986 Diesels
1970-1986 Misc.
1970-1986 Motors
1970-1986 Rolling Assc.
1970-1986 Steam
1970-1986 Tenders
Contents of Disc #2
1902 Catalog............ 1953 Catalog
1903 Catalog............ 1953 Instructions
1923 Catalog............ 1956 Instructions
1929 Catalog............ 1964 Catalog
1930 Catalog............ 1965 Catalog
1932 Catalog............ Chronology
1933 Catalog............ Grading Standards
1934 Catalog............ Lionel-Pictures
1936 Catalog............ Quiz-jr.
1937 Catalog............ Railroad-History
1938 Catalog............ Santa-Fe-Diesels
1939 Catalog............ Santa-Fe-Loco
1940 Catalog............ Scales-Gauges
1941 Catalog............ Union Pacific2
1946 Instructions...... Union Pacific
1952 Catalog
Both Discs include Adobe-Acrobat set-up to use to view the discs, if your computer does not have the program!
On the negative side, I was not impressed with the packaging the discs came in. I expected nice plastic cases (or case) with the attractive label printed on it like the one in the ad! Instead, they shipped me the two discs in paper sleeves in a bubble packed envelop. Blah!
Also the ad sort of leads you to believe that there are loads of step-by-step tutorials on disassembly restoration and reassembly of most all of the Lionel products produced in this time frame. That’s not the case! Though they didn’t falsely advertise and there are definitely some disassembly and repair instructions for some of the products, not all are covered. I’ve seen this advertised from marketers as complete as if it had all the information to repair all Lionel trains produced up to 1986, but in fact there are a lot of products or procedures not covered, especially Postwar engines, as I found out quickly that there was no instructions on how to change the smoke unit in my 671 Postwar Steamer, and that’s after looking over ‘all’ the repair and instruction manuals included in this set! The 1970-1986 files are exploded diagrams and parts lists only, with little to no repair instructions, though much of their construction can be compared with Postwar and even late Prewar!
I personally was a bit disappointed with the lack of content of information that ‘I’ wanted and expected to receive with this CD set. I have worked on all kinds of machinery in my jobs and on the farm and I have had to use many maintenance and repair manuals to do those jobs and know what a good detailed manual is! Needless to say, some of information that I wanted from this set was not there. What information this does cover though, is very informative and much of it can cross over to the different eras!
So, as you can see, even with the negatives there is still a wealth of information on these two discs and well worth the $37.00 price tag and that even includes postage! I haven’t even began to cover everything in this review as I haven’t viewed all the files yet, but there are some really nice extras on disc 2 to boot! If you’re interested, Click on, or copy and paste this link to see the ad!
Update; the link below is no longer any good. Refer to the comments below to find the item on eBay!
http://paydotcom.net/r/82586/friscokid/26267378/
A little about myself; I am a LCCA and TCA member and have been a train collector for almost 20 years. Though I have not had a chance to build a layout yet, I have been collecting mostly Lionel Postwar trains and accessories. I also collect trains and anything with Frisco Railroad on them and recently started collection the Atlas-O billboard boxcars!
This item comes in a two CD set and believe me when this site says there are over 2000 pages of blueprints and 400 diagrams, there not blowing smoke! Though I’ve not viewed every file, I’ve scanned over most of them and there’s loads of good and interesting information on them. All the repair manuals, catalogs and instruction manuals are photocopies of all the pages of original period Lionel manuals and service bulletins. It even includes parts lists for some of the products produced until 1986. Everything is easy to read and the format is easy to use. There is even a bookmark index you can click on, on the left side of each file to help locate specific files within each section.
Using the Adobe zoom feature, you can zoom in for closer detail and you’ll need to, to be able to read some of the text and see the detail. You can also print out the pages you need and bring to your workbench to conduct your repairs, which I highly recommend if your computer is not on the bench! There’s enough information here for the beginner or the advanced collector to use and enjoy, no matter what era you’re into!
The instruction manuals included are excellent resources for set-up, wiring and operating postwar locomotives and accessories. They also show original track plans, layout ideas and designs and how to’s on layout building including scenery tips!
There’s more for the Prewar enthusiast than anything else. In the 1930-1940 Service Manual (which includes some info that carries over into some Postwar items) includes instructions and testing for the Electronic Set, instructions and testing procedures for the 5C, 5D, & 5F Bench Testers, repairing trucks, directions for assembling the Bild-A-Loco, servicing ZW, KW, Z, V and a bunch of the smaller transformers like the popular 1033; also repairing track switches and operating track sections! Did you know there was a coupler adapter made to couple older Prewar type couplers with the later knuckle couplers? I didn’t, until I found it in here!
The prewar catalogs are if nothing else, fascinating reading as well as reference material, showing some early history of the Lionel Company. It gives you a look into the past at how they advertised during that era, by using product comparison and durability also showing early 20th century pricing. What I also found interesting was the early transformers using a light bulb screw socket to access electricity instead of a receptacle plug. Along with the various buildings, accessories and even Lionel produced scenic layouts, many items are not often seen at train shows.
Below is a list of files for each disc. These are the actual file titles:
Contents of Disc #1
1915-1942 Numbers List
1930-1940 Parts List
1930-1940 Service Manual
1946 Instructions
1949 Instructions
1970-1986 Diesels
1970-1986 Misc.
1970-1986 Motors
1970-1986 Rolling Assc.
1970-1986 Steam
1970-1986 Tenders
Contents of Disc #2
1902 Catalog............ 1953 Catalog
1903 Catalog............ 1953 Instructions
1923 Catalog............ 1956 Instructions
1929 Catalog............ 1964 Catalog
1930 Catalog............ 1965 Catalog
1932 Catalog............ Chronology
1933 Catalog............ Grading Standards
1934 Catalog............ Lionel-Pictures
1936 Catalog............ Quiz-jr.
1937 Catalog............ Railroad-History
1938 Catalog............ Santa-Fe-Diesels
1939 Catalog............ Santa-Fe-Loco
1940 Catalog............ Scales-Gauges
1941 Catalog............ Union Pacific2
1946 Instructions...... Union Pacific
1952 Catalog
Both Discs include Adobe-Acrobat set-up to use to view the discs, if your computer does not have the program!
On the negative side, I was not impressed with the packaging the discs came in. I expected nice plastic cases (or case) with the attractive label printed on it like the one in the ad! Instead, they shipped me the two discs in paper sleeves in a bubble packed envelop. Blah!
Also the ad sort of leads you to believe that there are loads of step-by-step tutorials on disassembly restoration and reassembly of most all of the Lionel products produced in this time frame. That’s not the case! Though they didn’t falsely advertise and there are definitely some disassembly and repair instructions for some of the products, not all are covered. I’ve seen this advertised from marketers as complete as if it had all the information to repair all Lionel trains produced up to 1986, but in fact there are a lot of products or procedures not covered, especially Postwar engines, as I found out quickly that there was no instructions on how to change the smoke unit in my 671 Postwar Steamer, and that’s after looking over ‘all’ the repair and instruction manuals included in this set! The 1970-1986 files are exploded diagrams and parts lists only, with little to no repair instructions, though much of their construction can be compared with Postwar and even late Prewar!
I personally was a bit disappointed with the lack of content of information that ‘I’ wanted and expected to receive with this CD set. I have worked on all kinds of machinery in my jobs and on the farm and I have had to use many maintenance and repair manuals to do those jobs and know what a good detailed manual is! Needless to say, some of information that I wanted from this set was not there. What information this does cover though, is very informative and much of it can cross over to the different eras!
So, as you can see, even with the negatives there is still a wealth of information on these two discs and well worth the $37.00 price tag and that even includes postage! I haven’t even began to cover everything in this review as I haven’t viewed all the files yet, but there are some really nice extras on disc 2 to boot! If you’re interested, Click on, or copy and paste this link to see the ad!
Update; the link below is no longer any good. Refer to the comments below to find the item on eBay!
http://paydotcom.net/r/82586/friscokid/26267378/
