Lionel 252 problem need help

Hello,did you wire this up by just replacing wire by wire,or did you follow a schematic for it??? I have the schematic here someplace if you need it I will e-mail it to you.Sparks often fly for a little while from various places once you fire up an old train that has not been ran in awhile,but that does not explain the rollers being hot,I suspect a wire is either missing,or in the wrong spot,remember that thing could have been rewired several times already-Kenny B.

I have seen the rollers get very hot if there is high resistance between the rollers and the collector arm.  High resistance =heat. Fixed it by using homemade brass rollers.  When you say it runs OK with jumpers, where are you attaching them?  Is the locomotive in the upright position when you run it?

People often over look the spring tension on the rollers. If it is weak, and a lot old trains are, it will spark a lot and the rollers will get blistering hot. If everything is CLEAN and the motor has been serviced that is where you should look first.

Rob

To test the armature.

1. Use pair or wires hook to transformer at low voltage and hold one wire to one segment then touch the other 2 copper segments 1 at a time "you should see" a spark and or feel it jump depending on voltage applied go through each segment this way until complete.

2. Then touch one copper segment and use other wire to touch end of armature pole (middle rod)

you should see "no spark". Touch each segment one at a time in this fashion to complete.

Test 1 if you see a spark after going thru all segments making sure to its good until test 2.

Test 2 if you see no spark after touching each segment to pole then there is nothing wrong with armature.

Martin