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Folks, I picked up one of these diesels and it has good sound and a lot of nice features, but it seems to have lackluster pulling power. For example, I have it pulling the Pacemaker Expansion pack freight set.  These are five box cars and a caboose.  They are relatively light weight. I lubed each car and they roll easily.  My layout is medium sized and it has 2% grades.  The Chessie struggles to pull these cars up a grade and I have to use the boost on the Cab-2 to get it going sometimes.  The traction tires are in tact, but I did notice one thing.  Both truck have gears but only the front one's wheels turn with some resistance.  The rear truck's wheels spin rather freely.  I did not open the engine.  Is this normal performance?  According to the catalog, this engine has Legacy features described in the Legacy portion of the catalog.  One of the features for Legacy Diesels is two motors. Is there supposed to be two motors?   Thanks in advance for you opinions and suggestions.

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Folks:

I guess I have an answer to my own question. 

I just got off the line with Lionel customer service and there should be two motors and both trucks should have resistance when the wheels are turned.  The rep said most likely the coupling connecting the motor to the wheels is missing.  So I am sending it in for in warranty service. 

Folks:  Just as a comparison, I also picked up the new Coors SW8.  These engines are awesome.  I believe they have only one motor that is connected/geared to both trucks.  I added two more sets of sound freight cars for a total of 11 boxcars and one caboose.  The SW8 had absolutely no problem pulling all 12 cars up my 2% grades.  By the way,  I ordered another SW8!

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