455 Switch Tower

I think oiling the mechanism may have been a mistake. The viscous oil may slow down the operation.  If lubrication is required, you might try dry graphite or dry Teflon powder, after the oil is cleaned off.  Another thing to look at is the spring to be sure it has not been stretched.  The Lionel service manual says to check the tow line where it goes through the wall to see if it has cut a groove in the plastic. If so they say to install a 259E-18 Eyelet to act as a bushing.

Also inspect the slide mechanism that slides the figure down the stairs to make sure it is not binding. To an extent the figure on the stairs moves by gravity. Anything that is dirty or binding will inhibit the action of this figure. 

If I remember correctly, there was an article in one of the magazines within the last year or so on this tower, some common problems and how to repair.  Can't seem to find it though.

David Johnson has already mentioned the eyelet. It does not take much of a groove to inhibit the operation. My recommendation: add the eyelet.

The problem with using graphite is that it stains something awful. If anybody has a technique for cleaning graphite stains, I'd like to read about it.

Sorry for the late reply, I finally got back to working on the layout.  I checked the slide and all seems to be working fine with no binding on the slide nor the eyelet.  I disconnected all the mechanism's.  The problem seems to be the plunger binding coming out of the coil as David mentioned.  I cleaned off the oil and carefully applied dry graphite and worked the plunger manually which seemed to help.  I reassembled the station put it on the layout to test its operation with a train.  It works better but not perfect. Next step to replace the spring to see if this helps.