I picked up one of the Lionel Gantry cranes made in the early to mid 90s after i saw how my son was disappointed with the standard MTH crane car. I should say this is not so much a knock on the MTH car but it was clear a gantry crane had more play value.
So I got one off trainzauctions and it functioned well for a month or so. One day while I was at work there was apparently an incident with the crane where my son crossed the black and white wires and caused an arc. I cannot confirm if things worked properly after that but I was off work today so I said what the heck and started a diagnostic.
First off I took the controls apart hoping it was nothing more than a loose wire. Turns out there was one wire loose from the board so I soldered it back in place. Thanks to my pitiful soldering skills I fought with it for over a half an hour or so before I got it to stay put and also not be touching another solder point and constantly popping the circuit breaker.
In the end..I diagnosed a problem with both the boom lower/raise control and the rotate control. Raise/lower was simple..string was wrapped around the post not the wheel so a fwe minutes later and we are done.
When I engage the switch to rotate the crane I can hear it humming and the motor gets really hot. I have a feeling the motor is locked but if anyone can suggest a next step to take then I am all ears.
On a side note I have a spare motor from a loco we repaired...would I be able to replace the burnt out motor with the spare I have even if they are not a perfect match?
