Continued issues with Lionmaster Challenger

Actually, that's probably not anything.  With the typical cruise, which all Legacy and DCS models have, only one motor is speed controlled.  The other motor just receives the same voltage as the motor with the tach reader.  It's not unusual for that motor to start later on rollers than the speed controlled motor.  However, when it's on the track, that effect is not seen.

The key here is to check the mechanical operation of the front power truck and see if there is any binding in the geartrain by running it through a complete rev of the drivers manually spinning the flywheel.

However, first thing to do is flip it over and make SURE the single motor mount screw in the power truck is tight, that's a common issue!

@ArtsModelTrains...

I have a Lionmaster Challenger that exhibits the same symptoms. The engine usually acts up when moving slowly over my 072 Lionel switches. I just give it a bit more "juice" and it's good to go.

I did check for linkage binding and found nothing. 

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to check that it wasn't an issue that I could take advantage of the parts sale to fix.

@ArtsModelTrains posted:

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to check that it wasn't an issue that I could take advantage of the parts sale to fix.

Nope, probably not.  This is a classic issue, I've seen it with the JLC GG1.  If the power truck with the tach loses traction, it can stall exactly how you state.  The speed controlled motor spins freely, so it doesn't take much voltage.  The uncontrolled motor receives the same power, but it's not enough to move the engine, so it just sits there.  It doesn't take much of a hump for it to stall, our club traveling modular layout had issues if we didn't get the sections aligned perfectly.  I stopped taking the GG1 to modular shows because it was just too picky.