Refurbishing vintage #58 Lionel goose neck street lamps...

[Howard]

greetings to all...

I have long admired the vintage #58 Lionel train street lamps that Antoinette displays on her Christmas mantels...here's a link to the 2015 display...

http://antoinettestockenberg.com/Putz2015.htm

I've said to myself many times..."Someday I'll get some of those street lamps"...well, the day has arrived...I now have four...and that's all I need...so it looks like I'm in business...

Right now I'm just beginning the process of refurbishing...it looks like they will all benefit from various levels of cleaning, priming and painting...but the first order of business is to get the lamps to work...I'll be checking the electrical continuity, cleaning the wiring terminals and bulb sockets...even rewiring if necessary...

By the way...I believe there is at least one other forum member (who perhaps wishes to remain anonymous) that has been doing a similar restoration...perhaps we'll see some progress pictures from this member's project as well...

Here's a link to an informative article from one of Paul's other sites...It covers basic restoration procedures and tips for bringing these street lamps back to life...

http://bigindoortrains.com/forums/viewt ... f=35&t=147

More details and progress pictures later about my restoration...

My very best regards...

Howard...

[Lynn]

I love them with your TLC they are going to look brand new#

[Howard]

greetings to all...

this has been a fun project...and i'm finished with everything except the wiring harness...(more about that later)...

just a couple of notes...before cleaning, priming and spray painting i had to do a few repairs to get them to illuminate...this involved the following...

re-soldering a loose shade and epoxy a crack where a shade meet the downturn of the bent top tube...rebuilding and rewiring one socket...replace a few of the wiring terminal nuts and bolts...re-insulate two terminals...

then checking and rechecking the connections to make sure all the lamps burned...i am looking for two vintage knurled brass nuts to replace the modern bright ones on one of the lamps...i also ordered a handful of reproduction pearl color bulbs...

the final finish was two light coats of Rust-Oleum® American Accents Semi-Gloss Hunter Green spray paint...

now it's on to another project...that's no surprise to anyone i'm sure...

my very best regards...howard...

[Lynn]

Beautiful resuration! I hope we get to see them lit.

[Laurie]

These turned out so beautifully. I had looked into buying some last year, but I worried about the restoration, and now I see why. I know nothing about wiring, but it is neat to see how you conquered the problems you ran into. Thanks for sharing.