How to make 356 Baggage guys move well??

The carts should have a small guide pin cast onto the front corner of the little platform on which the man stands. In my experience, these pins are often broken off, causing problems going round the turns.

I have "repaired" carts by heating a small length of piano wire, and inserting it where the pin would have been. As an alternative, I guess one could drill a small hole, and use super glue

Thanks!  Yes the small front pin is present on the carts.  What have you found to be the best degree of track tension (maybe I have it too tight or too loose) and what voltage do find they work best at??

Thanks again!

Mike

I don't have one set up right now. As I recall the tension was on the loose end, and the voltage was low. I found that my station had to be left very loosely screwed down in order to work properly.
I could be mistaken, but I do not think the 356 uses a rectifier (diode) to create deeperr vibration. You could try putting a diode in series with the vibrator coil. I may have set mine up that way.

Just as reference point, all 356 stations, no matter how fine adjustments are the carts will slow down going around the corners. Just the nature of the beast. Just fiddle and play around with the adjusting nuts. Be sure the 3 finger pad is in the front.

I've been playing with mine all afternoon. It's one of the re-released

versions (6-2323) but still has the same old problems.

1) when on the table I noticed the base was warped. Low in the middle and

    high on the ends. So I had to screw it down to a 1X6. I also cut a hole

    for the wires and the motor.

2) My baggage carts might be worn, its hard to tell but I raised the rubbers

    away from the carts ever so slightly with a screwdriver.

3) I noticed that it ran better with the roof off. Loosened the roof screws about

    half a turn and it helped.

4) put the board on small piece of carpet. Also tried styrophome packing

    blocks and that seemed to work also.

    A friend of mine who used to do a lot of repairs mentioned putting ear plugs

    under the platform where the screws went. This kept all the motion on the

    platform and also kept the train table from vibrating.

5)  Best operation is at 14V

   I'm also going to order new baggage carts to see if that is part of the problem.

   Hope some of what I found helps you...

   Bruce..

Thanks Bruce!

I found I was too worried about having the deck too tight and I should have been worried about having it too loose!  I finally tightened it down and backed off the nuts about 1/2 turn and it worked great!  

You can buy new carts but they run $10 each...new pads are a much cheaper option!

Part #s 0356-025 for the front pad and 0356-026 for the rear pad.

Thanks again, Mike

One other thought:  if you have the carts where one is empty and the other has the tinplate lithographed baggage, the carts work best if they are the same weight.  Most folks just toss the baggage.  I chose instead to add weight to the empty cart so that they both roll along at the same speed.

Jon

Were the lithographed baggage loads included with the modern era one(s)?

The original postwar loads are uncommon.

 Mike...

 Are these Lionel part numbers ?  If they are they do not show up.

 where can I get these pads ?

  Thanks

    Bruce..

I did not see where Lionel was selling just the pads.  The carts for the new freight station are part number 610 4236 025 for green and 610 4236 026 for orange. They were listed at $10.00 each.  The carts and pads are available from after market dealers like Jeff Kane at the Train Tender.

Nothing against Jeff at the train tender. I buy many parts from him, and stop to chat when I see him.
If my choice was either to buy reproduction pads or new carts at $10.00 each directly from Lionel, I'd go with the new carts.
I find that the quality on many reproduction parts just isn't there.

Isn't Lionel offering a significant discount on mail order parts during their upcoming open house this weekend?

I have the Post War Celebration version, and it came with one lithographed baggage load.

Jon 

Hi Bruce,

sandwparts (1.25 ea)  and traindoctor (1.50 ea) both carry the pads & I'm sure others do as well.  

S/F Mike

I jut picked up one off of eBay to replace my 256 in the front of my layout.  I'll be interested to see if it works well when it arrives

Give them raises! LOL!

Mike Maurice