Lionel 616E-25 (616E / 636E) Streamliner Motor

Educate yourself in the operation of the mechanical e-unit. The Lionel Service Documents (available in Greenberg Publications, Aurotech Publications, LCCA/HSL) has an excellent section devoted to the theory of operation and that it cycles through F-N-R-N. Ensure that the e-unit lever is in the electrically engaged position so that it will cycle the e-unit drum. Ensure that the e-unit drum and fingers are clean (CRC 2-26 or similar contact cleaner is great for this). Also double check the wiring, that it is intact and follows the traditional field armature series motor.

You cal also wire the motor bypassing the e-unit like so to test the motor functionality.

This should nudge you in the right direction, and please ask clarifying questions as I know I didn't go deep on everything mentioned.

Thanks Bmoran4 for the info and diagram.   I will try to spray some CRC into the e-unit drum and fingers.  I had created a brief video here as well which hopefully helps explain things.  

Here is the video:

Excellent video! it sounds like the e-unit may be working. The colored wires make it seem like the e-unit has been "serviced" and given new fingers/plates. At the end of your video, it looks like the bottom set of fingers is not positioned properly - it should be level. A better picture/investigation is warranted.

Typical 3 position e-unit wiring diagram (Ignore the smoke unit):

At this point, it can't hurt to take the brush plate off and remove the armature for testing. There are many different types of the armatures that Lionel used, all differing in wire gauge, length, turns, and whatnot. We are going to look for equal resistance values in the 1.2-3.0 Ohm range.

Set your multimeter to ohms and then test each combination of the 3 commutator faces. The reading should be essentially the same (and somewhere between 1.2 and 3.0 ohms).

In other words, the measurements of A to B, A to C and B to C should all be about the same and within spec.

Then test A to Shaft, B to Shaft, and C to Shaft. All of those should be essentially infinite Ohms (no continuity).

This procedure can be used on most any Lionel armature, however, the specific expected ohm reading varies from model to model.

Like Bmoran4 stated, the bottom finger plate looks suspicious. Either the metal cover is loose on the tabs, or the fiber finger board is broken.

Ok thanks to both of you. I got a close up picture. Is the part I indicate with an arrow what got feel looks suspicious?

That drum is rough and not properly aligned. Time for a e-unit rebuild/replacement. Before you invest in that, test the motor by wiring it as previously discussed above, bypassing the e-unit.

Edit: The 616E-10 e-unit is equivalent to the postwar 100-2 or 100-7 e-units (wire lengths differ slightly).

On closer inspection it looks like the bottom LH finger is not riding on the drum.