I was gifted a Lionel 313 Bascule Bridge for my birthday. I cleaned it up and straightened it out.  The motor works fine. I am having trouble getting the mechanical linkages from the 3rd reduction gear shaft to the bridge axel and to the far tower cam.  I also do not have the spring tension right.  I am looking for someone who knows the correct orientation of the cams and axel tabs or has a picture of them in the proper positions. It is harder than it looks.

It's a 2343 Postwar Santa Fe F3.  One screw in the bottom front, 2 screws in the bottom  back and the shell comes off. If your brother installed a replacement horn You will have look at the installation, trace the connections and see how he did it. Look for corrosion, broken wires, battery damage ect....
 If, it's the original 2343 horn setup and the horn itself If its still there, it will be above the rear motor on a raised bracket..  There is also a relay that it connects to as well as additional wiring. .  Sometimes the copper contact on the relay corrodes and stops the horn, Sometimes a dead  battery  left in the engine for years causes damage to the Battery  holder compartment or it is just  plain corroded. The horn itself may be oxidized a bit and not vibrating. Don't take it apart!  Read up on how to do it.......The little tabs holding the cover on will likely break off if you don't and you will never get it back together so that it works without replacing the cover. See which horn setup is in the engine

I am writing from England as a first timer to the Lionel forum. I have a couple of questions that I hope your combined wisdom can answer.

I have inherited my Great-Grandfathers Lionel trains, although I have previously played with them as a child many decades ago. My Great Grandfather was the council transport manager in an English town in the 1920/30's, with responsibility for their electric tramways. Perhaps he had a leaning towards electric traction as he had a 150, 254, and a 256; all being electric-outline locomotives.

I wanted to buy a few extra pre-war carriages etc. to add to what I have and give me enough to display in a case. I have bought a copy of "Lionel Trains Standard of the world" and "Lionel, prewar O gauge, volume1". I would buy more Lionel reference books, but they are rare in England, and the cost of postage from the USA is often more than the cost of the book.  The value guides probably aren't a lot of use here.

Is there a particular book I should get as a guide to Lionel prewar O-gauge?

I recently bought at auction a set of 254, 610, 610, 612 (8-window) carriages. My book says these should have type V or VII trucks, but these have type II trucks (without journal boxes). Is this to be expected (but my book is out of date), or perhaps an example of obsolete stock being used-up on export trains?

I also bought at auction: latch coupler 1630, 1630, 1631 carriages in Tuscan with black roof and observation veranda. As these colours aren't in the book, I assumed they would be a rough repaint in later life, but when I received them the paint quality is very high. Either someone took great care to dismantle them etc. or there is something odd about them. Have these carriages ever been reproduced in more recent times?

Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.

Just to put things in perspective,  You are working on What # Santa Fe Engine?
It could be  Postwar? 2333, 2343 2383? 2243? MPC? Modern ERA?  What number is on the engine?
 There are so many things that can go wrong  to cause the Horn not to work in any of these.  Your brother might have put a replacement horn setup in the engine. I say this because 9V Is a bit too much voltage for a postwar horn. They did not come with 9V connections. They worked on 1.5 volt D cells. 9V can damage the coil in the horn of the earlier engines. There are 9V replacement horns available for replacement in postwar 2000 series engines. If so, and that's what you have, It may not be using the original horn relay to control it. It my be using another activator that came with the replacement, like a board.  Can't really say without being able to see the installation.  You say If you connect the 9V battery, the horn goes off, then whatever controls the horn is stuck on or is activated and needs to be looked at as to why  it cant be controlled properly.
Sorry I can't be of more help but with the info provided, it's all I can think of.   

All,

This is in follow up to my previous posting on the reversing gear in my Santa Fe diesel.

I am trying to activate the Horn. When I insert a "D" size battery (either up or down) the "whistle control" from the Transformer doesn't activate it.

There is also a 9V battery connector in the battery compartment, that may have been an "add on" from my deceased brother. If I attach a 9V battery to it, the horn blows off!!

Any advice on making this all work would be appreciated!

aaganz