Polar Express Engine can't pull it's weight.

How many cars are we talking about?  Just the three PE cars that come with the set, and the tender?  We have a PE we bought last year and it pulls all of the PE cars it came with easily.  My son actually, just for kicks added about 15 more cars once and it pulled them all.  Is yours having a hard time with engine strain or can you detect the rubber traction wheels slipping?  I think Iread that some of the very early PE kits suffered from a very weak engine Lionel used and that you could send the engine back for a better engine...I believe you need to pay for the upgrade.  When did you buy your PE and was it new to you?

I would make sure the rubber traction tires are not loose on the drivers. The early PE engines had a smaller motor. I have one of the first run PE and with 6 cars I can run the ZW wide open and not come close to coming off the track. Not sure if it will pull 7 or more. You also want to make sure all the wheels roll easily.

Like Mike said, If you have one of the original PE engines, the motor is too small.

I bought one made more recent to replace my original and it pulls a lot better

with the bigger motor.  The bigger motor is also available on Lionel's parts list.

Thanks guys, it is one of the first engines Lionel put out. I will go on Lionel's web site and order the bigger motor for it.

As for the tires, they are fine. In fact, I put Bull Frog Snot on them and the pull power went from three cars to five. I think we have a total of nine cars, the three that came with the set and five or six add ons.

In any case I think the motor issue is the problem. If I can get my hands on a bigger one from the Lione I think I'll be in like Flin.

Oh yea, The problem shows up in a Zig-Zag turn. They need an engine with a little extra torque then just a normal 180 turn.

Again, thanks to all.

Is this three cars total or now you can pull the three original cars plus the five after the bull frog snot.

I have mine pulling 10 cars with no problems and the Lionchief version I picked up pulls them all find also. Maybe time to get a Lionchief version from a set break up?

If you are getting driver spin it does not sound like a power and/or torque issue.....stalling out would be a power (HP) issue or running slow and getting hot.....but spinning drivers is a traction issue. I'd make sure all wheels and axles on the cars are free rolling and oiled. Check the tender too. And if it works on some areas but not others you may have a track issue. If you have drivers spinning now.....a bigger motor will only ad to it. Added weight to the loco may help too.

You need to read Ogaugeguys post above yours.  Series 1 and series 2 motors are not interchangeable.  Does your model have the added weights in the back of the engine?  Also, are we talking about the Freight set or the passenger set? The engines are different.  G

To anyone who's thinking of swapping a large PE motor for the original smaller one - it's not simple or easy to do.
The larger motor available from Lionel is incompatible with early model PE frames and directional transmissions. It's not merely a matter of swapping out the small motor for the larger one.
I'm speaking first hand as I had the same problem with my early version of the P.E.. Rather than ordering from website, call Lionel service/parts via phone and they'll explain this to you. Hate to see you waste good money on something that's not going to work out as you thought. BE FOREWARNED!!!
Kenn, Ogaugeguy

If the Bull Frog Snot helps then it is a traction issue.  Too much friction with the additional cars, zig-zag curves is possibly too much for the light engine to overcome.

Add engine weight, or reduce pulling friction.

I just ran my Engine last night, and it hauled 27 cars.  Two of those cars I need to oil or something, because the friction is pretty great, so  I run those near engine.  Last year for Christmas,  I ran all of the cars minis the conductor car with no problem.  You might want to check the traction tire, or even add more traction tires, if you have that big of a problem.  I know that I can haul about 35-40 cars before mine starts to slip. 

Madison, 

Are you saying the RTR Polar express 1225. Not the scale model. Pulled 27 cars?

To run with Madison's suggestion, I had a thought. The conventional RTR PE has tender pickups to run the whistle. If we ran that power to the engine, would/could adding front traction tires help pulling power? For that matter, whats the best way to get those passenger car wheels to spin most freely? 

 I think you would have to put the front wheels in a lathe and cut groves for the traction tires.

Or buy a set of rear drivers and pull the wheels off the rear axle and press on the front axles if it could be done. You might end up ruining a set of drive wheels and not gaining anything.

If you did succeed adding the extra traction tires the next issue would be with the Series 1 motor being able to handle the load. Just a thought.

I just sent Kenn "OG-guy" an e-mail reply with the thought of me picking up a series 2 engine on the after market and adding my series 1 body to it with all the up-grades I spoke of above.

I will call Lionel and ask them what they think.

As for 27 cars Madison, you my friend are blessed with a scale model.

I went on the Lionel web site and looked up the parts for the two motors, search 2-2864. You will see the two motors and associated mounts, I think Kenn's point is obvious.

In any case who ever said that this hobby is for the meek of heart?

To reply with all of the posts after my first, I have a RTR Polar Express engine with I think the larger motor, and it just hauls a bunch of rolling stock I have, mostly boxcars, around 0-36 curves.  I don't think adding a traction tire will affect the pick-ups because the ground is on the front and back trucks and the + pickups are between the drivers.  As long as they are thin tractions, like Bull Frog Snot, I think you should be fine.  And when ever I start pushing the capabilities of my motor, the wheels spin out and the motor never stalls.  I love this engine, but my only wish is that the powder coating was thicker.

My 3 year old PE loco pulls all I can put behind it.....so pulling has been fixed. Now lights and figures etc sounds like a higher dollar scale loco.

Marty, That is not extra power that is just continuity of power.  The engines limitations rest with it's motor, electronic board and the gear/wheel combination.

Mario, Does your engine have the stack weights in the back?  I find it hard to believe it can only pull 5 cars.  Even 4-4-2 starter engines can do that.  Maybe you have some mechanical issues.  G 

Just a thought, following up on what AMCDave said...manually pull your consist with tender, less engine, thru the part of the trackage that the engine is having it's trouble with to see if there are any places where there is a marked increase in resistance to forward movement, could be the track is binding the wheels on any one of the cars.  A light-duty fish scale is a great tool to check this more accurately.

You haven't said what type of floor the track is on, either...carpeted floors can allow track to flex and bind and where one engine with "x" wheelbase can easily pass over, yet another with "y" wheelbase with loose traction.

OK, again, I need to work on my communication skills. I have a spot on my carpet layout coming into a wye that has a slight incline. The incline is due to the thin paneling I use to support the wye and adjacent track, so it doesn't dip and short, under the weight of a much heavier Berk that shares the wye.

Going into that area, the wheels on my PE slip, unless I take out the paneling. I sounds like the tire might work, I will try.

Thanks for the thought. There are no traction tire groves on the PE. Yeah, I wouldn't have gone to that extreme.

Madison,

That totally makes sense about pulling the boxcars. Sorry you got slammed . I'm sure mine could too! It's the passenger cars. Of my 60 or so pieces of rolling stock, they are the 8 worst rollers. I have tried lube. I have tried cleaning. Nope... I wonder every year, why I cant find aftermarket trucks, for the PE passenger cars, that roll like freight trucks. They are simple 2 axle trucks, with a longer coupler arm. Even other vendors that make great trucks, only seem to market freight trucks, or 2 rail passenger trucks.

Answered my own question. Stock traction tires make it worse. I guess the friction from the 2 center (they are lifted off track now) wheels gives more drive, than the rubber wheels on the front.

If the engine is spinning out, your problem is TRACTION, not power!

Putting a bigger motor in won't fix a TRACTION problem.

Here is the solution to your issue. The traction tires are dished(worn). Running my PE this morning I realized it was spinning at the end of a curve with 6 cars on it. As the traction tires wear the design of rear truck at the pivot point does not have enough play to allow the rear drive wheels to sit on the track properly. The spring on the rear truck also helps jack it up to.

Replace the traction tires and it should be fine.