242 Scout Engine

I have the 246 which is basically the same engine. I got mine as a young child in the early 60's. After years of storage mine acted the same way. Went to a local hobby shop and was told it was one of the least expensive engines Lionel every made. Had mine out this Christmas, sometimes it will run 30 minutes without issues, sometimes it will run exactly as you describe.

I would suggest looking for a postwar engine that will most likely run forever. Good Luck!

Thanks Jeff

Hi Mike, Welcome to the Forum. You will find out, as mentioned before, that type of locomotive was the least expensive engine. What I do, is get some CRC electrical contact cleaner-plastic safe formula- and spray it through the top slot and wait a moment. Those motors, if they will work at all, have a sweet spot on the E Unit lever. You'll have to play with it to find it. Good Luck.

Mike, there's one small hole in the advice Jeff offered: What you have already IS indeed a postwar locomotive. I suppose what he meant, is to find a better quality postwar locomotive.

Now in all honesty, the "Scout" locomotives like your 242 were certainly low cost engines. The Bakelite enclosed motors that came with many of the Scouts are a true pain in the neck to take apart and try to fix.

But it's more a design flaw than just being low cost, that is the problem with the Scouts. The 2-4-2 and 4-4-2 wheel arrangement DC can-motored starter set steam engines, produced by Lionel since the late 1980's, are direct descendants of the postwar Scouts. Many here refer to these engines as being cheap and low cost, and yet they are far more reliable than their postwar cousins. This type of engine utilized a circuit board reverse unit that also allows the engine to run on AC current even though it has a DC motor - as do nearly all locomotives being produced these days.

And even though getting parts now is becoming harder (including parts for these newer version Scouts), these starter set steam engines were produced in such large quantities, that one could always buy a second locomotive to cob for parts such as the smoke unit. I'll note here that one of my DC motored 4-4-2 engines that I've described here, is now 32 years old and still running with the same original motor, though I did have to replace the smoke unit after about 13 years.

One more word on "cheap" locomotives. Cost is not always relative to quality. I buy a lot of low cost items, including what many here on this forum would deride as being inferior, such as the DC only plastic bodied locomotives (NO circuit board reverse unit). Not having the circuit board allows the space to add weight to the motor chassis. I also repaint them, add details such as an actual headlight, and they run just fine with the added weight. I should also note I designed my layout with the option of running either AC or DC current to the track. Directly below is a photo of one such low cost starter set engine I recently did. Only I replaced the AC motor chassis that had a manual reverse only from the cab, with a DC motored chassis.

Now Mike, going back to your Scout, I had one of those also. Maybe not the 242 but certainly a similar one. I had it apart and it was a pain to reassemble. One thing I noticed is that any irregularity in the track where the loco might bump even a little, would cause the mechanical reverse mechanism in my Scout to trip into reverse. Unlike many other Lionel locomotives that have a magnetically operated reverse unit, the type used in the Scouts are a gravity mechanical type.

So I removed the round copper pick up rollers from the loco and soldered a tether wire running to the coal tender, which I added pick up rollers to. And that cured the problem. That Scout ran better than it ever had. So much so, I was easily able to sell it to someone who really wanted a reliable good running postwar Scout, even with my alteration taking it out of "original" condition category.

You can find a lot of stuff on the internet. I tried doing search for your loco, and this video appeared. He mentions spaying WD-40 into the lever of the mechanical reverse mechanism. I wouldn't have though of using that, but he claims it worked for him.

You might be at a point right now, where you'd just like to get that old engine running for your grandson, versus going out a buying a newer train engine. If you really want to have a challenge, below the first video, here's another video that came up, on repairing Scout motors.

Thanks Brien for the info and videos.

Better to get a more reliable postwar or even an MPC loco! :-)