Has anybody experienced the poor pulling power of the MTH C&O Coal turbine? Mine will not pull it's tender plus seven MTH Chessie passenger cars. Would adding weight inside the engine help? Here you have this beautiful locomotive that won't pull more than 1-2 cars. The super heavy tender doesn't help. If I could put a conventional coupler on the back of the engine and not use the tender that might work. Any help would be welcome. Thanks.
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before we guess at what's wrong.....
what type of track?
flat or hills?
are there traction tires? (I don't think so, but I don't know)
are the pickup rollers flexing freely?
I'm guessing that it's just spinning its wheels, or is it stalling?
Can you post a video of it?
The track is Gargraves and only grades are 2% or less. There are traction tires on both power trucks like any MTH F3 diesel. The pickup rollers flex freely. It just seem that there isn't enough downward force on the power trucks. The shell for all its size is quite light. I believe the die cast heavy tender is a major part of the problem. The wheels are just spinning.
Have you spoke with MTH? If you have what did they say?
Something is amiss. I have that locomotive, mine started life as a PS/1, but now it's a PS/3. I have no problem at all pulling my 7 C&O Premier passenger cars around, including the 2.5% grade. I was also pulling 40 boxcars with it around the same track. I'm pretty sure the drive mechanics are identical through the various years, so I'd be looking for some issue with your specific locomotive.
My guess would be an issue with either one of the power trucks or maybe the center dummy truck is lifting the weight off the wheels.
The trick to making the M-1 work is to replace the springs on the front and rear trucks with conical springs that will allow more upward movement of the trucks. Read through this topic:
https://ogrforum.com/topic/mth...43#76326080000967843
I have no problem with it pulling an eight car GGD aluminum Chessie set or an 11 car mixture of Lionel, K-Line, and GGD heavyweights after the spring change out.
Ken
@kanawha posted:I have no problem with it pulling an eight car GGD aluminum Chessie set or an 11 car mixture of Lionel, K-Line, and GGD heavyweights after the spring change out.
Nice consist with the matching cars, I'm jealous! 
Maybe someone already fixed mine before I got it, as it has absolutely no traction issues. All I did was the PS/3 upgrade and it was good. It is a cool and unusual locomotive, just the kind that fits into my eclectic scheme.
What do you guys use to remove/replace the dreaded E clips that have to come off in order to change the compression springs to conical springs?
I use a small screwdriver and my finger to keep the clip from rocketing off into the sunset. 
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