My Lionel 2037 problem

A good place to start looking would be the E-unit. Also check the wiring to the rollers. Lots of places for old wiring to short out.

Super-o Dee

It could be many things. Look to see if one of the roller assemblies got stuck in the 'up' position. The Magne-traction pulled a piece of metal between the roller assembly and the frame. Headlight and/or smoke unit wire was frayed and touching the frame. Reversing unit drum broke and shorting.

As soon as you put the engine on the track, the breaker pops?  Sounds like a short.  Take the shell off.  Look for loose and pinched wires.  Did the engine work OK before?  Has it been dropped?  Also look closely at the pickup.  I had one engine  with some metal stuck in the pickup and it shorted to ground.

I've had the pilot truck rub the center rail, and the drawbar touch it as well.

Thanks for all replies. I will start checking these suggestions out.

Try all of these suggestions if none work out ,  I have been repairing trains for 40 years at no charge I will do the same for you   I live in bklyn ny,   my E mail  jgrillo@nyc.org

check that e mail is jgrillo@nyclocal246.org

If it’s instantaneous then it must be a short. If it happens after running a while then I would look at the motor heating up and seizing. If you have access to an amp meter that could help with watching an increase in amps over time.

Jim53 posted:

Try all of these suggestions if none work out ,  I have been repairing trains for 40 years at no charge I will do the same for you   I live in bklyn ny,   my E mail  jgrillo@nyc.org

Thanks for your generous offer.

Are you only placing the engine on the track or the engine and tender?

Steve

The headlight wire where it comes out of thebulb  socket is very close to the plate that guides the pilot wheels swing. That is the most common short on those models (aside from body rub on wires). The wire tends to rub through the insulation as it sits tensioned against the rounded guide plate.

Or the E-unit as mentioned. Running it without a shell after checking for insulation issues would be "step #2"

Mine is my first train from childhood, and so well used it has had three new headlight wires there during its life. (and two sets of bearings, a new roller set, two gear sets; and needs a third rebuild But worth it... IMO it is a medium sized gem of a loco.

I will check my wiring for the headlight. That brings to mind a loose wire awhile back.l 

I love the 2037.  They are relatively easy to repair.  I  have found for a modest, price the JW Trains articles on how to do step by step repairs are a great way to disassemble and reassemble the engines.  including the smoke units and e-unit.   

http://www.jwtrains.com/locomotives.htm

Hope this helps..

Checked wiring and could see no obvious areas for shorting. One loose headlight wire but had that wrapped with electrical tape. Tried without shell and still immediately pops breaker. Engine was running fine and just shorted out system. Something must be shorting out in engine?

Check the main wire from the pickups to the E-unit for cracks where it may be shorting to the chassis. Disconnect all wires from the E-unit, remove and inspect it. I have seen old E-unit drums with broken pivots at their ends that will short out the motor.

Here are wiring diagrams for E-units. There is one diagram that wires the motor directly, with no E-unit. Follow that diagram to check your motor that it does run completely isolated from anything else.

Larry

smoke unit wire shorting on metal cap?

Actually, make sure you throw the e unit off/on first. this rules out the eunit coil.

Also look close at the smoke unit wiring now that it's apart. the cloth insulation might have slid out of a hole.

Once out, if it's E-unit fingers look good, turn the drum with something to neutral and you can start to look for continuity to the chassis where there shouldn't be.

I learned the following running the heck out of mine at breakneck speed with trains of heavy cast PW as my preference cars. Magnetratíon can do only so much stop spinning rollovers in the curves at 1000mph ; and it taught me sometimes you can get an e-unit to cycle by simply holding the train so gravity operates the pawl. It might need a small firm shake(hang on tight ),  but if there is no spring return, unpowered it will cycle by gravity. Turning the loco in a somersault is what I usually do today since as an adult I only do a couple hundred mph 

 You might want to look at and clean/dress brushes & armature plate first too. This frees wires for testing and odds are equal the armature is an issue as much as anything else. It's just a matter of how YOU want to approach the search that day.

Do you have an ohm meter? 

Oh, I think Harbor Freight has a deal for one. Buy a few other things and walk out with a free one.

Want to thank everyone for your help. I'm a bit embarrassed as after taking shell off checking wiring well I found one of the rollers loose slid it back in place and what do you know. I never seem to look for the obvious or first things first.

See post #2.

The important thing is you "won".  

The bonus is you know the condition of your engine a little better and have another type of dissembly under your belt.

  You really should use this as an opportunity to clean everything well, and dress the armature, brushes, lube, etc..

Chuck Sartor posted:

See post #2.

Ok, thanks . I'm also not too great in listening to directions.