Lionel T1 issue

Is one of the pickups not connected? You can take your ohmmeter on the lowest setting and see if one roller is connected to the other roller.

There could be corrosion or gummed up oil inside one of the rollers.

Hmm. I didn't think of the rollers being disconnected. Guess I could pop the shell off and check the connections

Could be the pickup rollers are spaced such that they hit dead spots in the switch at the same time.  This is usually an issue with smaller engines on longer switches, but you may want to check for that.

Classic issue, the rollers on that one are fairly closely spaced and it's common.  I converted several of these to TMCC, and I always added an extra roller on the tender to solve that very problem.  I've actually put extra rollers on a lot of locomotives, both large and small for the same reasons.

I actually thought the rollers were pretty far apart compared to some of my other engines. None of the others have any issues over the switches

@RoyBoy posted:

You can tell if they are connected or not without taking the shell off.

I can't find my ohm meter.

I can't find my ohm meter.    Look where you last used it. I'm sure it's there!

Reasonably spaced, but any time there's only two rollers, there is potential for issues.

@Christopher2035 posted:

I recently bought a lionel reading T1 ( the 1989 model). It was NIB. I'm surprised at how smoothly it runs considering the Pullmor motor. Anyway, every time it goes over a switch (I'm using fastrack), it trips the E-unit.  Track is clean. No other engines are having trouble. Rollers are clean. Ive tried it with and without the tender and it's the same issue.

Any suggestions?

Lionel offers longer roller pickups that will solve the problem.  Adding pickups in a tender along with additional wiring is redundant.

@Christopher2035 posted:

I can't find my ohm meter.

Lay it upside down in a cradle or a towel, be sure to be clear of the rods and linkage,...touch a wire from ground ( outside rail ) to a wheel, then touch one roller at a time with a wire from hot ( center rail ) and see if the headlight comes on, or you hear the e unit buzz,.....

Pat

@WaynePa posted:

Lionel offers longer roller pickups that will solve the problem.  Adding pickups in a tender along with additional wiring is redundant.

I beg to differ,....adding pickups to the tenders of a lot of locomotives solves a lot of silly issues,....hardly redundant .....just adding longer rollers doesn’t really accomplish much ,....the quantity is still 2 ,...

Pat

Pat, you and I will keep adding the rollers, others can do as they please to solve these problems.

The point is that roller placement on Lionel, MTH or K-Line engines was not done in concert with Ross' turnout designs.

Sometimes not even for  Lionel turnouts!