I picked up a Marx 2-4-2 # 3000 steam engine yesterday at an auction that was apart but from what I could tell just looking at it was all there except for a couple of screws. I brought it home, put it back together after I found a couple of screws and tried it out. Nothing.. just hummed. I took it back apart, cleaned the wheels and pickup shoe, took the side plate off the chassis to remove the brushes and cleaned the armature real good, light sanded the brushes, put it back together and oiled it real good. It runs pretty good backwards and all kinds of speeds but it doesn't run very good forward unless I have it full throttle. Any ideas why it runs better one way and not so good the other. It has me baffled at it's behavior....
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