Lionel Turbine--Burning Smell

First things I'd check would be to be sure the wheels are turning freely, and that the oil reservoir is full.  Then I'd have a look at the brushes and brushplate to see if all is well.

I never rely upon a seller's expertise to have bench-tested a locomotive for all possible problems.  Whether they do it or not, I consider it my responsibility to be certain it's in proper running order before putting it to work.  No, I don't consider a "dust burning" smell that goes on for two hours to be a good sign.

It may be stinky smoke fluid.  See if the smell is coming from the smoke stack.  Some of my smoke fluids smell pretty bad and the smell lasts a long time.

Earl

I have to agree with Balshis's comment above. The sparking from the drive wheels tells me they need a good cleaning at the very least and / or the motor is trying to draw a lot of amperage. I'd do like has been suggested and removed the brush-plate to check brush condition + a good cleaning of the armatures commutator; once clean, try some new brushes for starters and see how she runs.

You didn't state which turbine you bought. I am guessing a early 671 or 2020. Am I right? The smell you had the pleasure of experiencing is the armature breaking down and consuming its self. The early armatures were made of a material that turns to carbon when heated from the electrical resistance. I'll bet there was a 'ring of fire' around the armature when the locomotive was running and consuming a lot of power and running slow. When the build up of carbon burned off, the loco sped up. The evidence of this is if you look closely at the armature face, you can see pock hole marks in the armature insulation between the commutator segments where the insulation has turned to carbon and burned off.

Dunno about dust, but the smell of ozone and the smell of a motor burning up are quite distinct.  I would clean the commutator and drive wheels - and rollers, and put a drop of lube on the motor bearings. Put a very light lube (clipper oil?) on rollers and wheels, disable the smoke generator, and try again.

IMHO there are three likely sources for the smell. Of most concern would be the motor and e-unit.

The motor probably needs a good cleaning, including removing all the build up on the commutator, and fresh brushes. Don't forget to clean the brush tubes too. A word of warning: DO NOT USE Alcohol to clean the commutator. Some older lionel armatures appear to have be wound with wire insulated with a coating that was soluble in alcohol.

The e-unit might need cleaning too. Left in a dirty state, the contact may overheat and ruin the drum and/or contact fingers.
The smoke unit may have had an accumulation of dust and dirt build up over the years. The last time I ran into this, I replaced the insides to get rid of the smell. That may be an extreme solution, but I have all the parts on hand.

Thank you for your replies. From what I'm inferring, the sparking & smell of burning issues are correctable and this engine needs general servicing. A few quick questions before I proceed to open it up:

1) What's an armature?

2) What's a commutator?

3) What are the brushes?

I did clean out a completely gummed up smoker assembly and replace the actual smoke unit on a 682 once, but as you can see from my three questions above, I'm probably overmatched here. I'll try to do a google search for photos of a Lionel turbine with the shell off and see if I can identify these parts for cleaning/lubing. Does one need to be a genius to replace brushes?

As someone mentioned above, the strong smell seems to be coming from the smokestack. It's exactly the smell I remember of the heating system being fired up every fall for the first time in a few months, with the dust build-up burning off...

Thanks for your collective patience.

Below you will find a link to an excellent write up on how to clean up a lionel motor. Please be aware that the author goes far beyond what most people do, but it will give you an idea of the different parts of a Lionel locomotive. It was written by a fellow with a wealth of experience servicing Lionel trains.

Maintaining Your Lionel Trains

Desert Center, I sent you a large PDF file to help you. It adds to what CW sent you.

Rob

I think we have directed Desert Center to Olsen's online service manual pages in the past. If not:

Lionel published a fairly detailed service manual for use by their authorized service centers. For years the information was only available to those authorized service station, and having a copy of the manual would be highly prized by anybody seriously interested in doing their own repairs.

That all changed when a couple of companies went through the manual, and published abridged versions. Fast forward to today, where the manual is available in print, on CD's and courtesy of Olsen Train Parts, on the web. Not only does Olsen provide the most complete set of reference materials I've seen, they have also created some of their own pages.

Here is a basic link to their library.

I suggest reading the general motor service section, and the section on whichever turbine you have.

Sometimes the trick is knowing which section to use. I think that comes with experience, although there might be a lookup table somewhere. You can always ask on this board, someone will surely respond.

Thanks Rob & CW for your invaluable help; much appreciated.