Lionel 1688 train set from 1940's

[Gordon D. Lee]

My wife's father left her this train set that has a 1688 locomotive, a W
series transformer as well as a 1388 transformer, there are four other
cars including a orange colored Shell tanker. The tracks are "O" gauge.

I'm in the process of setting it up to see if it works. The instructions
have a publication date from 1940. Can anyone help me with comments as
to care and feeding of these trains. Does anyone know the approximate
value of this set? I'm not interested in selling it but we're curious.
It has sentimental value to my wife. Please send any comments to my at
my e-mail address. Thanks.

[Tony White]

In article <33199D...@loa.com>, gl...@loa.com says...

Sounds like a "prewar" set. If you can get the numbers off of the cars, it
will be easy to get their current book values.

Care and feeding? There are a number of things one can do to clean the motor,
etc. Changing the brushes in the motor is a good idea. Otherwise, reasonable
(_not_ excessive) lubrication is about all one should do unless one has
experience in cleaning and repair of those oldies.

[Joseph T. Lewandowski]

According to one of my reference books, the 1688 engine came in only
two sets - a passenger set and a freight set, both dated 1936. These
sets could have sold for a number of years. The freight set with the
1997 values (Greenberg) included:

1688 with 1689T tender - $90.00
1680 oil car (tanker) - $35.00
1679 box car - $40.00
1682 caboose - $30.00
W transformer - $25.00

I don't have a price for the set but individually the prices are
listed above for excellent condition without boxes. With set box
and/or individual boxes the value will be higher.

Joe Lewandowski

On Sun, 02 Mar 1997 10:30:36 -0500, "Gordon D. Lee" <gl...@loa.com>
wrote: