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Last week I spent an afternoon trying to get the set's 831 back into shape. Digging around in the bits and dust-bunnies at the bottom of the box, I found two of the missing stakes, along with the missing brake-wheel stand. With two more repro stakes from the bit box, we had the stakes all accounted for and back in place.

The frame holes for the brake-wheel stand were badly disfigured, likely from playwear over many years. Even after a bit of metal work, I couldn't get them back into a shape that would hold the tabs in place. I finally said the heck with it, installed it loosely, then gave it a dab of JB Weld. Seems to be working, but an abomination to the purist. Here's a before and after:



No paint, no touch-ups; basically as found. I did give the lumber load a very slight sanding, but that's it.

A few of the Lionel 831 flat cars that reside in the collection:



Two versions missing - the early black-body-and-no-journals version (1927) and the late dark-green-with-black-journals car made 1940-1942. I've never seen either.

The Lionel 1688E dropped off at East Main Trains in Thurmont, Maryland, for repair has been completed and returned to service:



Can't say enough about their work...she should be good for another 90 years.

In between outdoor projects, I found some time to replace the missing handrail on this early-version Lionel 804:



The original had copper handrails, but all I had, and all I could find, was a brass or nickel version. Figuring the brass wouldn't look too out-of-place, I went ahead and used that, along with nickel stanchions. It's a fiddly job, but well worth the effort. I gave the tank and the frame a bath while I had it apart, but no repaints or touch-ups.

While I had it apart, I straightened up the ladders a bit, and there was a single copper journal missing, which I had a replacement in the bit box. All back together, it's ready for another 95 years.