Help with E Unit.

Clean the commutator especially in between the sections.

Thanks Jim for your response. Would that be the part where the bushings are laying on? 

Yes but use a toothpick or something that won't do damage. I use electrical contact cleaner too. You should get some but clean the cracks-get any gunk out. Dirt will short them. Your e unit could be dirty and sticking, too. Be careful cleaning it that you don't bend anything-if it is the old kind not an electronic one.

What happens when you try to go forward? Does it just hum or vibrate?

The 211 Texas Special should have a 2 position e-unit. When a diesel locomotive with a 2 position e-unit only runs in one direction, and just sits there and hums in the other direction, it is probably missing an insulated washer.
There should be a solder lug mounted under one of the brush plate screws. There should be a whitish / clear shouldered insulated washer there to keep the solder lug from touching the screw or the metal post that the screw goes into.
I lost count of how many locomotives have passed though my hands with this problem.

By the way, be careful how you flex / bend the wires running to the field. They break easily.

CW and Jim thanks again for your response.  CW I notice that it does not have the washer you are talking about. Where can i buy this washer at? 

Thanks again,

David

The Train Tender has the 202-108 and 633-107 Nylon Shoulder Washers for 30 cents each. Either will work.

Hello,For a fast fix,(but not factory correct),you can just reverse the wires that run to the brushes.

It will then at least run forward(But forward only),if you wanna run the train while you wait on the parts to do the correct fix.

This will not harm the engine in anyway,and at least you could run a train behind it tonight.

Leave the center wire where it is on the brushplate,and just unsolder and reverse the other two wires,then solder them back on.Simple,but effective.

Keep it mind,this is not the proper fix,but if you don't mind not having reverse,you can run it like this forever.

I'll go one better - just leave that lug off the brushplate screw and wrap it in electrical tape and you now have full functionality. That screw was just a convenient place to mount a solder lug, it doesn't need to be there except as a strain relief for the field wire.

The only reservation I would have about leaving the lug off the brush plate screw is the stress that could be placed on the field wire. potentially breaking it.

I think removing the screw and testing functionality to verify that the missing washer is the problem might be a good idea.

Another work-around while waiting a washer would be to use a plastic screw. In fact, some very late Lionel diesels used a plastic screw to hold that lug, as opposed to a metal screw with the plastic washer.

Some of the shoulder washers from radio shack transistor mounting kits....my work in a pinch...

Just to check that is the problem, just remove the solder lug and replace the screw in the brushplate. It should run both directions