182 crane motor

I doubt you will find a replacement motor as these have not been reproduced to my knowledge. The original motors were only used in the #38 pumping water tower, the OO gauge Hudsons, and the #182, all of which are less common and have 3-figure values so they don't tend to be junked for parts. And based on the last couple of York shows, the original parts guys' inventories seem to be drying up - must be fewer junkers out there at prices where converting them to parts is still attractive.

Which winding is broken? It is tricky to rewind armatures (and particularly this one as it is smaller than the usual Lionel motor), but it is not too hard to rewind the field. I have done a couple. Be patient and work slowly. You may be able to save and reuse the original magnet wire. I did by working out of a 2nd floor window and letting the loose end dangle to avoid kinks and knots. I have had good luck with making and carefully insulating splices in the field winding to avoid rewinding the whole thing. Do try to keep track of the overall length of the field wire, particularly if unwinding doesn't work and you end up cutting out the old winding, as you want to rewind as close as possible to the original length to duplicate the Lionel motor performance. Measuring the DC resistance is not accurate enough.

If you don't want to try it yourself, there are folks who specialize in Lionel motor repair. "Choo-Choo Charlie" is famous for this work, but I don't know if he is still active (I don't see his ad in the latest TCA newsletter). There is an ad for "The Motor Doctor" who rewinds motors - he's at

If the wire is broken at point of contact you may be able to salvage it by carefully scraping the clear insulation (assuming it's magnet wire) off the wire's end and soldering it back to the terminal. If it's too short, try to carefully unwind it one turn and then solder. Can't stress carefully enough as magnet wire is delicate.

Dan T

Dave n Deb wrote: