Problems with Lionel Alco FA

Psssst...  Put it out for auction and buy the William's Golden Memories pair. You can always add TMCC/ERR to it later.

They're no longer made, but you can find several different Williams Pennsy FA versions on the secondary market. They have can motors, so it's relatively easy to add the Electric Railroad TMCC modules with cruise control as well, and they'll run very smoothly.

WBB alco's are terrific.

Bruce, check the obvious first.  Slanted worn, broken brushes, obstruction.  Then check to see if the armature is rubbing anywhere, especially on the bottom of the windings.  Then check the armature vertical play and shim it if need be.  There should be some play but not excessive.  There were a few extensive threads on this when the new Alcos first came out.

Postwar sheetmetal framed Alcos (similar to your modern Alco) also suffered from lose staking in the power truck.  This allowed the worm gear to shift to one side in one direction.  This can be corrected by restaking and shimming the plastic base plate so the armature shaft hits the gear straight on both forward and reverse.

Thanks John.

Will check out the brushes to make sure they're not worn, and check to see if the worm gear is staked properly.

Don't want to replace the locomotive as I have the matching passenger cars.

Thanks everyone

Bruce