Ah sugar. I never saved the pics of stuff I've seen over the years. This should be fun to see others stuff though.

Awe man I have tons of pictures of why the AC or heater doesn’t work but can’t find much as why the train doesn’t. Here’s one I found after a kinematic coupler spring got red hot during a derailment. 180W PH is the fastest breaker in the industry except when the PCB is broken then it’s slower than a ZW 😅

@Vernon Barry posted:

Figure this could be a fun topic where we post daily the repair job at hand- looking at broken and damaged trains- why it doesn't run. Edit- again this is about posting pictures and short explanations of model trains electronics and mechanics gone wrong. Both entertaining but also good to see actual real failures, designs, what's good, what's bad.

First one tonight is a Lionel Lionchief Plus 2.0 Polar Express Berkshire from the 2019 run http://www.lionel.com/products...0-berkshire-1932090/

the motor is turning- but the wheels are not moving.......

And, sadly, no Lionchief Plus 2.0 motor is in stock?

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...-GEAR-LCP2-BERKSHIRE

I guess I'm calling on Lionel in the morning.

Pretty sure we have one with the same issue. Purchased November 19, run from November 30 to December 4, dead now.

Obvious what the failure point is, but any thoughts on a reason?

Vernon,

The alternate part # shows it is in stock.  Any reason not to try that 6208653100?

6208616100 ALT 6208653100

Jim

OK, next one, Lionchief ET44

Brass/Bronze alloy worm against Bronze worm wheel- the motor worm gave up? Again, I would blame this on choice of materials for mating gears being the source of the issue. It had tacky grease, but still led to "glitter bomb" sparkles- something you don't want to ever see in a gearbox.

...Yikes!

Mark in Oregon

These are just repairs that came in within the last 24 hours. I have a decent pile growing after the holiday. Also, it's not brand specific- just first in, first out. There will be plenty of gory pictures to see. Please join in- post your recent horror pictures. the goal is to keep this fun and entertaining, not about trying to single out manufacturers or go on QC rant, just what a train repair person might see in a typical week/month.

I have a sample of a very similar issue with a Weaver G2sa.  The difference is, there really aren't any parts available for Weaver locomotives!  This one is on it's way to Pat @harmonyards for a new gearbox, fingers crossed!

@Vernon Barry posted:

Nope, not in a Lionchief plus 2.0 engine with optical tachometer. This is not the Berk Jr, a compleely different chassis. Thanks for trying to help.

Vernon I respect your knowledge tremendously!  But as far as I know, the Polar Express locos are just a Berkshire Jr with a different pilot "cow catcher."  So I imagine that the alternate motor suggested by Jim would bolt in and would allow the loco to operate, but with the loss of electronics-dependent features like sound and speed control.

If so, perhaps a circuit board and flywheel transplant is possible?  Certainly easier than transplanting the worm gear onto the existing high-mileage motor.

This will be old news for some of the kind folks who helped me with this engine….MTH New Haven F-2 ABA set PS2-5V.

Why it wouldn’t run: Dreaded blown PS2 5V board capacitor as seen in first photo.

How I attempted the fix: Replaced the 5V board with a PS2/3 upgrade board. Second photo shows what I think was a nice neat job.

Where I went wrong: Didn’t test the upgrade components on a test track. So, when the engine set took off at high speed (later found out due to faulty upgrade board) and flew off the layout and hit the only part of my basement floor with ceramic tile…….Well you can see what happened in the photos. At least this was the tail A unit

So if anyone has or knows of a New Haven A unit F-2 Shell out there needing a home, please email me!

Mike

@LT1Poncho posted:

This will be old news for some of the kind folks who helped me with this engine….MTH New Haven F-2 ABA set PS2-5V.

Why it wouldn’t run: Dreaded blown PS2 5V board capacitor as seen in first photo.

How I attempted the fix: Replaced the 5V board with a PS2/3 upgrade board. Second photo shows what I think was a nice neat job.

Where I went wrong: Didn’t test the upgrade components on a test track. So, when the engine set took off at high speed (later found out due to faulty upgrade board) and flew off the layout and hit the only part of my basement floor with ceramic tile…….Well you can see what happened in the photos. At least this was the tail A unit

So if anyone has or knows of a New Haven A unit F-2 Shell out there needing a home, please email me!

Mike

OUCH!

Bought a nice B6 steamer used. It ran but the wheels wouldn't turn freely when I got it.

Found the culprit pretty quickly. Must have been on Christmas tree duty.

Postwar 2363 was missing the brush holder and brush. Needed good cleaning and rewiring. Runs now.

@Vernon Barry and @gunrunnerjohn assuming that other possibilities might exist for destroying a worm and worm gear so thoroughly, if the cause were misalignment (even though well lubed), what would be the telltale clue(s)? I have learned how touchy the motor angle is on a 726 Berk - get it a little wrong and things slow down and/or get noisy. I also have some MPC diesels with metal worms and nylon (or Delrin, or plastic, etc.) worm gears that are in perfect shape and the center rail metal contact rollers are well worn, indicating high mileage. So how do you guys diagnose root cause?

George

Thanks for correcting my misinformation Vernon!  I actually have the previous issue of the LionChief Plus "726 Berkshire."  This is a larger loco than the Polar Express Berk, and a near-copy of the postwar Lionel 726.  On the example I have, the worm gear isn't pressed onto the motor shaft.  There's a gearbox cast into the chassis, which fixes the worm in alignment with a worm wheel on the last axle.  The motor is connected to the worm shaft by means of a "dog bone" coupling.  This is a better design than the Polar Express or the Berkshire Jr,, because the worm and the motor can be replaced independently of each other.

The key issue here is the lack of available replacement parts.  And if Lionel keeps changing the design, even cannibalism will be difficult in the future!

How good are you at repairs?  Not sure of the motor shaft diameters, but here is a link to a source of worm gearing, metric shaft size of 5MM and up, but using a sleeve on the shaft may make it workable.  You'll have to figure out worm gear pitch, maybe replace the axle gear with a match for off the shelf worm.  Perhaps there is a model source with better selections, maybe MicroMark?

https://www.mcmaster.com/produ...orms-and-worm-gears/

Just to pop this subject up again, go to Amazon and put in 'hobby metal worm gear sets'.  Quite a few show up and some of those may be  adaptable, plus, you don't have to deal with McMaster and Carr.  Unless you get lucky on finding  a gear set, I think you will have to make something work from what is available, filing, grinding, drilling may be required.

To show other types of failure- check out this "why doesn't my smoke unit smoke?", well, that is because the wick is blocking all the smoke and airflow.

Again, the factory method of jamming the wick between the resistors and then doing it so much it blocks all airflow through the smoke unit and out.

"Why is  my train shorting out when crossing certain track sections" - the track must have sections where the center rail is high compared to others pushing the roller up and arcing to the metal truck- in one of those Menards engines.

I noticed arcs and burns on the rollers, and then matching burn marks in the metal truck pocket. Added thin clear plastic to act as an insulator.

Thin clear plastic sheet insulator.

"Why doesn't my PS2 5V NW2 have lights?", well, the bulbs are burned out but why are the bulbs burned out? -Oh, I see.

First I see the bulb is black and mirrored- indicates a lot of power vaporizing the filament

Hmm, what's this? Kapton tape with a burn mark? What's the max temp of Kapton tape? "Can withstand temperatures up to 260°C/500°F" Hmm, we exceeded that....

I found the volcano- I mean transistor.....

I'll reiterate- the purpose of this topic was supposed to be more tell a story and post a few pictures. Not meant to be discussions and questions. Again, trying to add some humor- things I actually say muttering to myself when doing repairs, showing some of the more graphic failures.

One thing about this forum, you poke the tiger with the stick and you don't know where it will go.  Usually it is full of useful info and 'what happened to me and how I fixed it' followups.