Lionel 1225 Polar Express - worn gear problem

What does the worm wheel (the complementary gear on the axle) look like?

That doesn't look like any of the semi-scale Berk Jr Polar Express engines. Can you get the photos from the eBay sale and post them here? or some photos of it , tender and engine?

I agree with you Marty it seems when you need a small part the shipping alone cost more than item. If you get new motor with gear it will be less time and probably no adjustments to the gear on the shaft or even destroying motor.

This was my finding for the Polar Express back in 2015 Link Here

Great piece of info; will have to check my PE.  Where can one get a new screw if it is missing?

My case is not missing motor screw related but damage is the same. What seems to happen to this engine is that with regular use, wheels got loose and unaligned on their shafts. This cause them to stall b/c of  side rods hit one another and got locked. While gear on wheels couldn't move, DC motor tried spin it's shaft anyway causing damage to the worm gear. 

The thing is, that worm gear elements are made out of  two different materials.
Worm seems to be a steel and its complementary gear on the wheel axle is brass. 
Worm got shredded while gear is intact. How softer metal can destroy harder one ?
Steel should win but facts are opposite.

I'm sorry for theoretical questions, just trying to be logical and learn something from this repair case.

Chris.

Attaching close ups of worm gear to estimate damage. Worm is shredded, It's complementary gear has some tiny bites but should still work. I didn't find anything cheap on Ebay (only motor with worm posted for ca. $40+ shipping).
I would rather like to buy a worm gear, which is going to last longer than spent money for something what may break again very soon. Can you give me please any recommendations where such worm can be purchased ?

Motor:
Mabuchi RS-385PH-2465, RN500608

Worm:

Dimensions: 6mm x 20mm
Bore: 2mm
Module 0.5M (most likely)
Space between threads (thread pitch): 2mm

Gear:

Dimensions: 13.7mm x 4mm
Bore = 4mm
Teeth# = 21

I see absolutely no sign of lubrication! No wonder the gears got chewed up! You will need to replace both the motor assembly with the gear, and the drive gear axle w/wheels assembly. The gears are not available separately. The axle gear is bronze, not brass.

There was some lubrication (gray grease) but I wiped it off after disassembling damaged parts.
In my opinion steel can't be chewed by brass (or bronze).  It's against law of physics - softer metal can't be used to change structure of harder one. The only possibility is that worm is fact made out of some alloy softer than real steel and bronze.

I think they need to beef up these mass produced sets that the general public will be buying. Build them like they did in the 50’s. 

Had the exact same problem; wound up replacing the axle and the motor.  Fortunately, replacements from Lionel are inexpensive.   

https://ogrforum.com/...press-1225-berkshire

Mitch 

My PE engine has number 2640EL1 printed at the bottom chassis.
What does it mean?