265E loco & tender, (traditinal) LCCA-2012

Check the side rods to see if any were accidently bent and are binding the wheels.  Can you get the drive wheels to turn manually? Does the motor make any buzzing sound? Have you tried moving the lock-out switch on top of the engine to the opposite direction?

George

Hi George;  Check the side rods and no binding.  The wheels can be turned manually forward and backwards.  I've moved the lock out switch as well but that's a no go.  The motor makes no sound at all.  Do you have any other ideas I might try.  thanks. wayne

Hmm. That is odd. This is a traditional engine, so there are no electronics. You have power to the track because the light and whistle work. Since there is no noise from the engine, I would say the field coil isn't energizing or you aren't getting power to the brushes. The engine should startup in neutral, then move when you hit the direction button. This engine is not much different than my 259e mechanically. 

There must be a loose connection somewhere in the engine. I would take the shell off to see if you can get it to work that way, and to look if any wires are disconnected between the e-unit and motor.  If you are not comfortable doing this, I would check with a local hobby shop that does repairs.

George

I just found this set reviewed in an OGR issue.  This is the "Lakeshore Limited" set?  It has a Build-a-loco motor. I have not worked on these in O gauge, but I have in Standard gauge. The bottom plate comes off the motor with two retaining screws. I have found on my std gauge that if that plate is not put back on perfectly, it will short to the frame and the engine won't run.  Just one more thing to look at...

BTW - beautiful set!  Ed Boyle thought these were going to be very valuable.

Hello again George;  Thanks for the help.  It was the bottom plate that wasn't attached properly.  I adjusted it and the engine now runs.   However after running it for a few moments, I tried the whistle, sounds great but can't get the darn thing to turn off.  Any suggestions, your help once again would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks,  wayne

Great!  

Sounds like you may be using a newer, electronic transformer. Try adding a lighted lock-on to the track, or just put a 18 volt bulb across the transformer terminals or track leads. The idea is that the bulb will bleed off the DC voltage added to the track to run the whistle.

FYI...the e-units in these are suspect. My Lakeshore 265E arrived DOA with a defective e-unit, and I have a Lionel Corp 254E that stopped running last season with what I suspect is an e-unit problem (it's not cycling with power applied/removed). If I can't figure it out it'll go to a local MTH service-center after the holidays.

PD

pd posted:

FYI...the e-units in these are suspect. My Lakeshore 265E arrived DOA with a defective e-unit, and I have a Lionel Corp 254E that stopped running last season with what I suspect is an e-unit problem (it's not cycling with power applied/removed). If I can't figure it out it'll go to a local MTH service-center after the holidays.

PD

PD, seems like Wayne fixed his by adjusting the bottom plate on the Build-a-loco motor. Check yours. We are waiting to hear back on his whistle tender.

George

Hello George;   Changed the transformer from the  MTH 1000  then tried a  Lionel CW-80 and a good old Marx 60W but to no avail.  So for mean time I just disconnect the contact wires on the trucks.  For some reason the fan; I think thats what you call it;  on the whistler would not stop.  I'll keep looking for answers so if anybody has some more suggestions I'll gladly try them.  If this isn't frustrating enough,  now the engine will not go in reverse.  I think this set has it in for me.  Thanks for taking the time to help out George,  wayne

Wayne,

Sorry to hear that. If the engine won't reverse, it could be the position of the lock-out switch, or it could be the e-unit. Those magnetic coil e-units can be fussy. The CW-80 will give you more trouble than the other two.  The Marx 60W is pure power, but under powered to the MTH 1000.  Try reversing the wires on the MTH 1000; you never know, it helped my last train.  The whistle tender is only supposed to run on DC power, which the whistle button introduces. Not sure why it is running.  Sounds like there is DC power on the track, which can also cause a problem with the e-unit. Try switching the wires, the polarity can be a problem.

George.