just won this locomotive on ebay. shipping advice
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130853528823...84.m1439.l2649

hey guys, I just won this locomotive on ebay. (I think I got a good deal. 80 bucks plus 30 for shipping) been wanting one for a while now so I'm really excited. this is my first ebay purchase of a tv, so I was wondering what I should advise the seller to do for safe shipping. I do not want the bakelite to crack. the auction quoted 30 for shipping, but does that seem light? should they ship the cabinet and chassis separately? what has been your prior experience, especially if anyone on here has purchased a locomotive on ebay? thanks a lot for your time as always
Bryan

honestly I give it about a 10% chance of not getting busted, sorry.

Now if the seller was a TV guy maybe a 50/50 IF it was CORRECTLY double boxed and used real foam rubber for the packaging. with at least 4" on all sides and then on the outside of the inner box another 4" to the outer box (8" total foam rubber total on ALL sides). Also use of NEW double thick corrogated boxes for both the inner and outer, may get you to the 50/50. If it was me I would charge at least 50$ just for the labor to do it right. Now if it come in a pampers box with some crumpled up news paper and a few peanuts then it typical shipping an 0% chance of arrived in anything less than a few hundred pieces.

well the seller said that he is open to shipping it however I instruct him to if I could walk him through it. whatever shipping costs I have to incur, I will do, and he is insuring it at his expense. I guess I'm just trying to see if anyone has had experience shipping one of these sets successfully. so far, it seems bleak :no:

I don't think I could be talked into packing/shipping one myself, but if I were to do it I would ship it in two or three packages. I would box the cabinet, chassis and crt each seperately.

The only safe way to get one of these intact is to go get it or dont bid.

based on the history, they are not a TV guy so my guess is they will not want to take it apart for shipping (would prob pull the CRT base of, and punchure the speaker at the least) which would be the best bet. Your only chance would be to TRIPLE box, thats right 4" min foam box 4" min foam, box and then a final 4" min foam and box. ALL NEW HD boxes. and don't mark it fragile. NO peanuts, NO air bags, but good quality foam (not styro, but the stuff used for mattress covers, dense, soft foam. Maybe going overnite may help, not sure if that means less handling (think old american tourester gorrilla luggage commercials on TV).

I shipped my GE "locomotive" TV that already had a small crack in its top, and it arrived fine. Here is what I did:

-Wrap the TV in multiple layers of large bubble wrap, most of a Home Depot $25 roll. It probably had four inches of wrap alone on all surfaces when I was done.
-Cut and combine two large (24x24x20-inch?) boxes from HD into a box maybe 24x24x30 inches.
-Make a bunch of hollow cardboard forms, triangle-shaped on each end, maybe 12 inches long each and 4x4x4 inches on the three sides, and put them in the bottom of the box, followed by the "cocooned" TV, then more hollow forms around it at the top. (The forms are what I could come up with in the HD parking lot at 9 PM on an out-of-town trip, with a bunch of scrap cardboard, and they replace the foam-type forms you would get in the box with a new TV, more or less.)
-Ship the TV (to myself) by Greyhound and NO OTHER method.

Note that I have heard at least once that Greyhound may not officially accept TV sets for shipping anymore, so you may have to say it is something else.

Craters & Freighters.
No way will it arrive intact with $30 Ground shipping.

Insist that the seller take it to UPS and have them pack it. Pay for the packing and shipping what ever that cost is don't skimp. The set weighs 42 lbs. Unless you live across the street I can't imagine where it could be shipped for 30 dollars. Do not under any circumstances let the seller ship with Fedex. They will not pay off on any damage to that kind of item. If UPS packs and ships at least with proper insurance you stand a chance of getting compensated for damage. Here's a couple pictures of the inside of a locomotive. One good drop would be enough to dislodge the metal band that secures the CRT to the chassis then the follow up mishandeling will certainly brake off the neck. There has been a lot of talk on this forum about using Grayhound to ship. I have never personally used them but others have with good luck. I think the handeling is better.

Here's a few more pics of the Locomotive. I think it's just two screws in the front of the set that allows the cabinet to come apart. Then removing four screws on the botom that also hold the rubber feet on will allow the chassis to be taken off of the base. Hope that helps. (couldn't help throwing in a pic of my restored set, the Ion trap needs to be adjusted)

Yes - this set comes apart more easily than almost any other set. Ship the cabinet separately and it will arrive with no damage if double boxed with peanuts between the boxes. Chassis should also be double boxed in the same manner. Best if the CRT is shipped in yet a third box, but that takes a little more skill to remove. Frankly, the CRT is pretty easily replaceable, while the Bakelite cabinet is not.

If you try shipping it altogether, it's important to keep pressure off the fragile vent areas on the top of the set. They cave in easily. Keeping pressure off them may require covering them with a stiff panel of wood. Padding alone can't keep the pressure off.

Proper packing for shipping is tricky! You've really got to have a mechanical engineer's mind. Not all the advice above is really good advice.

Bryan, the seller doesn't want a lot of aggravation.
I'd ask him to take it to a UPS office and tell them to box it - and
either double or tripple box it.

Its a lot of worry now but once you get your GE 805 safely home, this makes
a really nice restoration and it does play well once restored. Several of us
here have restored these little TVs and they are very desirable to collectors.
The Bakelite polishes up nice along with the solid brass front plate.

Its worth paying the seller a little more to properly box it and make sure its insured.

When you get your GE 805, start a restoration thread here -- we would love to
follow along with your progress.

Tom, was it you who put together some great tips about these TVs?

Carl

I just want to say thank you for all of the advice and input- It really means a lot to me! The seller has been more than accommodating, and he is going to take the chassis from the case and have them double boxed and packaged separately. Can anyone possibly help me with CRT removal. it is just a matter of unscrewing the metal band that holds the CRT to the chassis? should that be packaged in the same manner? thanks a lot
Bryan

Bryan, attached is an image of my GE 805.
To remove the CRT, I would first tape a piece of cardboard over
the speaker as it is commonly known that if you don't, you will
poke your finger in the speaker. The speaker is positioned for
finger pointing:-)

In the attached image are4 red arrows. I would suggest proceeding from
left to right (back to the CRT front) this way:

1- Remove connector by holding onto the black base and then remove
the wired connector. You don't want to pull off the connector base.
65 years of age have weakened the glue in these but if they come loose
you can glue them back - as long as you don't break off the wires going into the glass.

2-) there is an ION Magnet. On mine, you can slide it off toward the back.

3-) there is a wing nut that must be loosened.

4-) remove the screw holding the metal band around the front of the CRT.

Now the CRT should be loose. It sits in a well in the chassis.
The CRT neck is fragile so don't force it out. If the CRT still will not come
out, there are some screws at the green arrow that can be removed to
rotate the frontal part of the chassis downward that opens up the CRT well.

Good luck.

Carl

Bryan, not to be nitpicky, but in the future it is best to make all such arrangements with the seller prior to bidding. In this case it looks like you've gotten very lucky to find a seller that is willing to do all this extra work for you. Most sellers would just ship it as they originally had planned to, and you would have received a box full of parts.

I definitely agree. I will certainly use more foresight next time when I plan on buying something far away. anyways, I just spoke on the phone with the seller and he is up for the project of disassembling it. He is even going to separate the CRT with the pictures provided and he got a bunch of scrap foam from a shop nearby so that will help with packaging. thanks a lot for the input once again, and lets hope I will be posting pictures of an INTACT set :D

Bryan, I did something similary like you did. I purchased a Tektronix oscilloscope
along with the scope cart. The seller stated that the shipping was going to cost more and I undersood. Good communication and the seller fully disassembled the cart and
marked it with numbers for reassembly. Sounds like you have found a good person too.

Carl

Make sure you communicate about removing the CRT plug from the socket, good luck :yes:

I had a Zenith MJ-1035 stereo FM radio shipped to me via UPS from Arizona a few years ago. When the set got here to my apartment near Cleveland, it worked, but two controls (volume and tone) were loose and were flopping around under the chassis, eventually sustaining damage that destroyed one control (a two-section volume potentiometer). I understand the radio may have been subjected to very rough handling by UPS, resulting in the problems I mentioned. The radio no longer works due to the damage which was eventually done to the 2-section stereo volume control; I haven't yet found a replacement, since it is a special 2-megohm potentiometer.

I am taking this as a warning never to ship anything via UPS (and to be extremely wary of other carriers such as FedEx, et al.), as the carrier, from what I have read here of others' experiences with them as well as my own, seems to be less than gentle with the packages it delivers. I don't know how UPS has managed to stay in business as long as it has, with this horrible track record. By contrast, however, a Zenith C845 radio was delivered to me via UPS some time before the MJ-1035. The C-845 arrived here unscathed, and still works ecellently, with that great Zenith sound, to this day.

That is a good point -- remove the Anode wire from the CRT.
The Anode wire should be on the right side of the CRT almost underneath
the CRT.

Carl

Carl left out step 1A:

To remove the picture tube socket (The thing on the back of the picture tube with the wires coming out):

The picture tube socket is shaped like a donut (or sometimes a half circle) and it is removed by pulling towards the rear of the TV.

Press in with your thumb through the donut-hole as hard as you are pulling out on the socket itself, to prevent breaking the base off the picture tube and ruining the picture tube.

If you use the term "CRT" be sure to indicate that this means the picture tube.

James.

Here is a summary thread I did a while back: http://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/gen...on_tips.html#1

Also some info on the various Locomotive models: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/general...locomotiv.html

How far is the set from you exactly? If it's less than 500 miles I'd consider driving to get it, done that about three times now.

I will confess to having one of these shipped cross country.
I got a good deal (for the time) on eBay and asked the seller beforehand if she thought she could pack it well enough to avoid damage, she assured me that she could and she did!
It was packed like Ft Knox, big and bulky and it cost something like $100 for the shipping but it arrived intact 2000+ miles later.

UPS Stores are hit or miss, I had a seller take a Raytheon 7" to one of them once to have it packed and shipped since I figured it would be safer, well it arrived with barely any packing material at all inside, maybe an inch between the box and the edge of the set.
It got slammed so hard it cracked one of the cross boards on the bottom and put an outward dimple on the channel knob.
Miraculously the CRT survived but I did notice the gun got knocked a little off center and the raster won't completely reach the left side of the screen.

A freight service like Craters and Freighters is the safest way to ship but it's costly.
They box the set very well, strap it to a pallet and ship it by truck, it doesn't get rolled or dropped unless there's a careless Forklift operator somewhere along the way but the odds are against that happening.
I've used them a few times for very special sets, stuff where I would be heartbroken if it arrived damaged!

As the years pass I'm realizing that all vintage radios and TV's should be shipped in more than one box. It should be cabinet, chassis, and with larger radios, speakers. The fragile cabinets cannot take the jolting of these heavy components.
The GE "locomotive" is one of the best examples. The chassis is quite heavy for it's thin-walled cabinet. In normal situations it's fine, but not in today's harsh shipping treatment. There's many weak points on that set, especially on top with all the vent slots. The seller of mine had it shipped to him and it suffered a crack at the top that I had to JB Weld.
I hear that because of this, a totally crack-free example is getting rarer and rarer.
Good luck with yours - it's a "must-have" vintage TV

Not to make you lose sleep, but some of the worst horror stories come from 3rd-party packing jobs. eBayers usually come in second, BTW. I helped a freind win a nice Bush bakelite table set in Holland once, and the guy packed it in a beer 12-pack with a 20-page sunday paper glossy ad all wadded into balls. You never saw so many bakelite crumbs! If you're not watching, you could end up with a single-section box with just foam peanuts. VK's parent site has scads of stuff for you to review:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=87

On a hopeful note, I purchased a Telefunken Gavotte radio from Germany a few
years ago. It was double boxed and arrived in perfect condition. Keep your fingers
crossed that they don't run over it with a fork lift:-(

Carl

Update: The tv made it unharmed!!
 

the locomotive finally arrived today and absolutely no cracks in the bakelite whatsoever! I am very happy. has all of the original knobs, good cabinet, and it did not suffer any. the chassis also looks to be in good condition. It was packaged in two boxes, and packed very well with a lot of peanuts, foam, bubble wrap, and newspaper (felt like I was digging to china LOL :D. ) I do not know the state of the picture tube, of course, but then again, I did not know if it was good before hand anyways. the only damaged I noticed was the speaker paper had a tear in it, but that could have been there prior, and it is not so bad. other than that, the seller did a great job, and so did fed-ex with the handling and delivery.
Bryan

Good news Bryan.
FYI, here is my restoration thread when I did my GE 805 Locomotive.

Good luck with your restoration. Keep us informed as you progress.

Carl

:thmbsp:

I am glad I was wrong about it not making there in one piece, great news :yes: