Lionel 124 City Stations/Santa’s Workshop

By Frank Termini, TCA #92-35802 Summer 2026 e*Train

I am a retired “Baby Boomer,” one of seven children.  I say this because growing up, hand-me-downs were common, and nothing was wasted.   I think that is why, when I see pre-war train items in very rough shape, I always take a closer look and try to determine whether they can be returned to near-original condition.  I am not talking about a complete restoration, just some rust removal, rewiring, and/or a fresh coat of paint. 

During one trip to a local train show, I found a  Lionel 124 City Station, in pieces, under a table.  It was in very poor shape, needing both Chimneys, some windows, and trim pieces.  The base was ok, just dulled by time.  The main building and roof were badly scratched, but not dented. I convinced myself that I could find the missing pieces and repaint the station.  I thought it would make a nice static display somewhere.  I like people/figures on my station platforms, so each subsequent trip to a train show had me on the lookout for some figures.  Before long,  I had enough people to complement the station.  It wound up on my standard gauge circular setup, see Figure #1.

Several years after that, a family member asked me to put together a train set for him.  He wanted a G-Gauge-size train.  I found a nice Lionel Large G-scale Pennsylvania passenger set for him. 

Christmas time came around, and I thought a Lionel 124 City station would complement the train set I got for him.  As luck would have it, the next train show I attended, I found another 124 City Station in disrepair and convinced myself again that I could bring it back to life.  It was more difficult this time only because my intentions were to make this a Christmas gift, and I wanted it to look new.    The colors did not matter to me since the recipient was not a collector of Lionel trains or accessories.  It came out better than I had hoped, see Figure #2.

Fast forward to 2022 and COVID.  My attendance at train shows had greatly diminished.  Caution was in order.  I did attend a NETCA show in Manchester, CT, that year with my wife.  We stopped at a table and saw a 124 City Station in very poor condition.  We smiled at each other and moved along.  Before we left the show, though, we went back to the table and looked at the station one more time.  This time, the table owner saw me and tried his best to sell me the station.  I must have been the only person who showed interest in it.  Finally, he said he really did not want to take the station home, and I could have for $20.00.  I took it, see Figure #3.

I had no interest in the piece until this year.  It had been sitting in my basement since I acquired it.   I have been in clean-out mode for a while now, and decided that if I was not going to do anything with the station, I had to let it go.  Now, I have to admit  I am somewhat of a Christmas person and usually have a large-scale train set around my 9-foot Christmas tree.  I decided that I needed a building/station under the tree this year.  I remembered that station in my basement.  It needed several parts, but again, none that would be difficult to find. 

After removing the old paint and spraying on a fresh coat,  A festive station resulted.  I took many liberties in terms of colors once again and  3D printed a new hanging sign and declared this 124 City Station as “Santa’s Workshop”, see Figure #4.

I was content with the outcome, but it needed something.  The answer was obvious…..Santa and his elves!  The Santa proved easier than I thought.  I had two old gatemen in my junk box and decided to rework them in the same Christmas colors as the station.  Instead of using the original Lionel “Gateman” on one of them, I purchased a Lionel handcar replacement Santa (#8426-50) and used him.

I found some 3-inch-tall elves on the internet.  They would look terrific outside the building, so they were the next items bought.   I had three 800 series trains in very poor condition.  I repainted those using the same Christmas color scheme.

Below is a before and after of the Gatemen, see Figures #5a & #5b.

Figure #6 shows all the items that were placed under the 2024 Christmas tree and hopefully for many years to come.  The three trains will be pulled by a Lionel 262E (not shown).