HELP!

Put it in a zip lock bag and put it into the deep freezer overnight. Then warm it up with a hair dryer. The thermal shock may "un-glue" your shell. No promises that the electronics will be ok. But if they're already broken, what's left to break?

Option #2. Take a dinner knife and tap the bottom with the butt end of the knife.

One way or another, you've got to break the paint bond between the two parts.

Rotsa ruk....

Sometimes one end is held with a screw and the other end of the floor plate locks into the shell, usually the rear end.

Do you have a Lionel part number for the engine? Looking at the parts diagram may reveal the secret.

ad nauseam

In addition, unless it's a sound issue, you're looking in the wrong place.

BTW Gilly, freezing won't hurt the electronics, nor will warming them unless you really get carried away.

Looked up  the model number; no exploded/parts diagram on the Lionel site that I could find There is a wiring diagram...The tender screws are shown in the owner's manual.

Has to be in the tender. When I started to set up the engine, with tender on track first, andpower, the tender started making a godawful squealing noise; added the engine, just to see, no response.

The freezing/thawing idea sounds appealing.

You don't suppose you could share the Lionel number, do you? 

You're asking for help, yet we don't have the information.  There are other resources to look at, did you check the Lionel supplements?  They have details up to the early 2000's for many engines.  Of course, looking it up not knowing what we're looking up makes it more difficult.

6-28078. The first release of the PRR J1a.

I went through the Lionel supplements on their website. All I could find was the tender wiring diagram. Interesting, and probably only GRJ would have fun with it.

Below is the parts diagram. Not much help there. The only useful info is from the owner's manual; 6 screws stated to remove the shell.

Still confused.

Is the problem the engine? That is, will it run?

Is the problem the tender? That is, will the loco run but the sounds are problematic?

Mentioned above:

The stuff that makes a high-end Lionel steamer run are in the locomotive, not the tender. 

First off, the locomotive is a 2-10-4, and both the locomotive and tender wiring diagrams are in the supplements.  I've attached the pages to this post.

The ONLY thing the tender does is make noise.  If the locomotive won't run on it's own, that's the place to start.  The wireless tether is one-way.

FWIW, the locomotive parts breakdown is on the Lionel site as well.

If this is just a tender sound issue, the first thing I do is to reseat all the connections and the boards.  Run the volume control up and down a few times to see if it's just got a dirty spot.  Next I reseat the RailSounds chips, that will require the proper chip extractor.

Here's the six screws you need to remove to take the shell off, I seriously doubt it's stuck on more than what a gentle rap will take to release.

The stuff that makes a high-end Lionel steamer run are in the locomotive, not the tender.

Really? I never knew that!

I'll go give her a try.

I seriously doubt it's stuck on more than what a gentle rap will take to release.

A gentle rap, you say?

John- well, I figgered a simple "HELP" woulld get more looks than a complicated title like "my 2-10-4 tender won't come apart and squeals like hell" would.

So far there's been some useful tips.

Rex, the actual model number is ALWAYS useful when you're asking for help.  Did you notice that more targeted help arrived when we knew what you had?

Oh, nubbins. Got the tender shell off by dint of a little tapping, a little prying, etc. This is what I found-

Strange thing. Last time the loco was run, everything seemed to be fine. Then, next time got the screech. Looks like the shorting/wire melting had been progressing for some time.

Not sure I want to tackle this mess- electronic gimcracky is a particular weakness.   Got to track down an expert repair person...

YIKES!

Time to fix that!

There are three Lionel repair centers in my area:

• Allied Model Trains in Culver City
• Train Shack in Burbank
• Train Crossing in Costa Mesa

Does anyone have experience with any or all of them to share?

Interesting all that corrosion on the speaker screws.  G

It may not be as bad as it looks. Most likely the track power pick-up wires, which splice together between the two pick-up rollers, were involved in a dead short de-rail center rail to outside rail. One pick-up roller is on the center rail and the other via a de-rail is on an outside rail.  Some of the OCP set at 15 amps or even 20 amps would do wire damage as shown before the OCP would kick out.  I've had it happen, with the instant puff of smoke, on a caboose with dual pick-ups.  The dead short usually only involves wiring and doesn't get to the electronics.   I could be wrong and often. 

Mike CT

Note the dual  center rail pick-up one on each truck.

22 to 28 ga wire gets hot instantly, also note the melted beads of copper where the wire separated. Hot is Hot.

Replaced the wiring and the lighted caboose worked.

I agree it's a dead short, nothing else makes that kind of damage to #22 wire.

It certainly can be fixed, and I agree that the first step is to unwind the wiring and replace the damaged wire.  Then you can see where you stand.  While it could be just the wiring, I suspect the cooked wiring may have connected track power where it should be.  The only way to find out is to test the boards separately, then inspect the motherboard for any cooked traces.  That comes, of course, after repairing all the cooked wiring.

FWIW, this is why I put a PTC between the pickups of my passenger cars, and also between the pickups when I pipe power from the locomotive to the tender to share the load between the locomotive and tender pickups.  Maybe I need to start putting them in tenders as well.

Maybe I need to start putting them in tenders as well.

Yes. I have a few of the big Lionel steamers. If this could happen to one, it could happen to others. Sure hate the idea of opening up all those locos and tenders

I normally do these kinds of updates when I have them open for other reasons.  Of course, I use the Lionel PH180 transformers, and we use them at the club as well.  The excellent breaker on the PH180 has prevented such issues so far.  This is a perfect illustration of why good and fast circuit protection is essential for model trains.