Category: Tips and Tricks

Oh No! There’s Corrosion on My Locomotive!

Repairing Damage to a Modern-Era

Lionel Hudson 4-6-4 Steam Locomotive

Is it worth a professional restoration?

A few years ago, I picked up a used 1999-built Lionel 4-6-4 Hudson steam locomotive at a price too good to pass up. Without much of a layout to run it on, after testing all the functions, I put it in the same temperature- and humidity-controlled layout room closet with all my other rolling stock and structures.

Toy train, model railroad, repair, Lionel, Steam, Locomotive, tender, floor, corrosion, damage
Oh no! Corrosion on my Lionel locomotive!

Well, I decided to get it out this year for a new holiday layout I built, only to discover CORROSION!

Something had caused corrosion on the floor of the tender, so I tore it apart to see what was going on inside. What I discovered put me in the position of deciding what to do: take it in for professional restoration, or take on the job myself.

I discuss the discovery and the thought process put into deciding whether to tackle the repairs myself on our new Tips and Tricks page Repairing Corrosion on a Lionel Hudson Tender.