260E

Captain Russ,

   To bad you were not a member here on the OGR before, your 260E would now be fixed correctly.  You have a real nice old engine, I have the original 263E.  Now instead of playing round with the good 260E, contact GGG here on the OGR, send the engine to him and have it fixed correctly, by a man who knows what he is doing, and is professional at it.  When I dig my more modern MTH P2 NASA engine out of storage, I will be doing the same thing, don't endanger your prize possession, let George (GGG) fix it correctly.

PCRR/Dave

I am not sure i will ever trust this engine out of my hands.  I just ordered the parts and if i'm not successful, i will take your suggestion.  I just want it to run like new again and take down my Christmas tree!!!

Thanks so much for the response!

Captain Russ

Thanks for your response and advice. The armature came right out without removing the wheels.  I just unscrewed the brush holder from one side and the plate from the other side and the armature came right out.  Maybe I can shoot a pic of that tonight. The commuter looks horrible and the brushes will be replaced.  One of the things I did before i sent it to the wacko in NJ was spray it down with electric contact cleaner that why it all looks dry.  It has always been lubed with a light sewing machine oil used sparingly.

The only reason i'm going for the armature is because it pretty inexpensive and an easy install.  I read an article somewhere where a repair guy sort of refaced the commuter on a little lathe (sort of like resurfacing a brake rotor).  I figured what do I have to lose.

The wheels are original.  However the wheels on the rest of the set are supposedly standard gauge.  Not sure what happened in the years before my folks got together but as far as i know it came from the factory like this.  The original box does not have the 260 engine on it either.  Maybe they did a mix and match.  A local train shop that did not fix it either said the wheels on my tender and cars are std gauge not O,  but the engine has O wheels??

I'm highly mechanical, fixed and built race cars much of my life.  Have brother that works for snap-on tools as well so i think I can handle the repair.  I do appreciate your cautions!  I've done a few carbs in my lifetime, holleys, carter, quadrajunks.

Thanks again!!

I have that engine,  had it apart,  I put the armature on ball bearings, think it was my first one I did,

bob hannon re winds  arms,  also he has books out,  trainrefs.

Not sure what this means?

its not hard to work on,  , I don't like how the arm shaft  was in the fiber , some people have used rivets for bearings, (brass)

thats a cool idea, I have new fiber pieces to reassemble

The flip-flop pendulum e-unit can be the culprit as well. This is a sliding contact that can corrode and any resistance will impede circuit. This unit can be disassembled and cleaned. To check this, simply by pass e-unit with a jumper wire and see if that does not solve sluggish running. I have rebuilt numerous units such as this and is not hard.

Cool beans, I will try this!!

check the brush plate and bearing plate for wear, if shaft moves back and forth, , its worn,  and give running problems

I have new ones to install when i get all the parts together.  probably gonna use new wire too.

Here is my armature

send it  hannon,,commutator , shot, by looks of picture,  windings can't be much better

Looks like old dogs, er, coastlies, can learn new tricks lol.

ARF!!!!!  USCG Semper Paratus!

I have my dad's old 260 loco from 1931, but with a manual reverse unit. I did have to replace wiring because the insulation was falling apart. The loco had an issue with binding on curves in one direction only. It had a fair bit of wear in the wheel bearings and I discovered the wheel gears were rubbing on the frame when it took curves in the one direction. I was able to improvise a thrust washer of sorts with a loop of brass wire around each driver axle on one side, outside of the wheel bearing to reduce the side play of the axle. I didn't want to try pulling die-cast wheels to replace wheel bearings (if I could even get parts) because the wheels would likely break. So I made an adequate fix on it, but I don't run it so much anymore out of respect for its age.

On a prewar Lionel 259 loco acquired more recently (in parts), the armature bearing was squealing due to wear. Oiling it would quiet it for just a little while. The armature end just spins in a hole in the fiber-board brush-holder unit with no real bearing. I made a bearing by slightly stretching the bore of a brass rivet on a large tapered needle, drilled the fiber-board to accept the rivet, and super-glued the rivet into place. Now it's a great runner !

If you can obtain correct replacement parts, that's a good way to go. I had to improvise for lack of parts.

edit/correction: mine is a Lionel #262. Dyslexia with numbers sometimes.

Seems to be alot of us guys having Dads trains.  I tell people, if i ever become homeless, in my shopping basket the last thing I will have will be Dads train!

Yeah, but my dad's train was out of our family for 35+ years, and by an absolute miracle and good luck, it was gifted back to me!

Wow, mine was stored for 35 years.  My dilemma, who do I pass it down to.  My nephew, the only boy with the family name, or my niece (also godchild) who works for the NORFOLK SOUTHERN railroad.   She is such a train girl too!!!!  This is really hard!!!  

I am thinking of buying another 260E and giving them to both and only I know who get the real one.  I take that secret with me when I go.

Captain Russ posted:

Wow, mine was stored for 35 years.  My dilemma, who do I pass it down to ... 

 Why don't you stick around a while and enjoy that train yourself. And in the meantime you can acquire some more trains for the kids to divvy up someday. 

Absolutely!!!!  What a beautiful train you have  looks alot like mine!

I cant wait to post some pics of mine when i get it all back together.  I may just leave it up all year.  Yes its march 4 and my tree and trains are still up.  I may hang easter eggs on it.

Dont laugh at me i bought all fastrack this year thinking that was my engines problem.

I guess i put ball. Bearings on the build a loco motors.

See bushing..that's oil impregnated brass. On both sides of arm shaft

What do you do, drill out the old brass and press in rollers?

drill the fiber to size, mini ball bearings for rc cars,, you go off of hole in board so its centered

Wow neat,  I am kinda excited about the new fibers and brush holders.  feedback on my armature seems to indicate that it is my problem.  New one ordered from olstens, hope it gets here fast!!!

Never deal with this North Jersey place again!!!  Wish i found this forum sooner.

have bob hannon rewind  your org armature, 

I have ordered a new one but will probably  visit Bob too.  do you have his contact info?

Thanks

trainrefs.com

I would get his books, he explains how to check problems,

okie dokie!  thanks!

ACE,

    Sage advise buddy, right on the money!

PCRR/Dave

OK guys Check this out my story!!!

The guy who took my 260E,

promised it would be back to me in a week in time for Christmas. 

He kept it for 3 months

DID NOT FIX IT  charged me 80 bucks which i gladly paid immediately

You can see FROM THE PICS HE DID NOT TOUCH IT. Screw heads all still in same place.

One of you noticed the engine was not even lubed at all in my pictures.

Imagine that!  a train repairperson who claims they fixed it, did not even lubricate anything

kept tellin my i needed an e-unit which my engine does not even have.

lots of other lies and BS,  did not even ship it back for 3 weeks after he took my payment

now hes ****ed cause i informed my credit card company to stop pay.

claims he will have the state police come arrest me for theft of train repair services  lol lol lol.

Claims there will be civil as well as criminal actions.

I cant wait to show it to any one he gets involved.

What do you guys think??

"kept tellin my i needed an e-unit which my engine does not even have."

I agree the guy tried to screw you... But isn't that an e-unit hanging on the back of that motor?

Looks to me like you have both a manual reverse switch and an e-unit on that motor. But I'm not the O gauge motor expert.

I was told its a pendulum reversing unit. It does not look like any e-unit i have seen in any of my research.   Either way it still barely pulls itself forward.    He also blamed the fastrack, but this engine runs fine in reverse.

Looks to me like you have both a manual reverse switch and an e-unit on that motor. But I'm not the O gauge motor expert.

I am not an expert on the 260E either. That written, I think the "manual reverse switch" is for the chugger. 

I dont have a chugger......that I know of.

Whats a chugger?  Is it like a henway?

Looks like I was mistaken. According to another thread, not all 260E locomotives had chuggers.
Here is the thread: 260E chugger

Thanks!  Mine does not have a chugger.  

The Manual switch just shuts off the current to the pendulum reverse, like an e-unit lock. Keeps it from cycling every time you go over a spec of dirt on the track. My 251E has the same set up.

Steve

that round contact switch is worth more than the engine,!,,,,the  round contact you can get ,  but the lever you can't.  yap, also used for chugger, on,  off,

chugger is that round  thing under smoke unit