Stalling, shutting down....

Sounds like poor signal reception. If it's not the same area of the layout, then some reason inside the locomotive's antenna, etc. Don't know about the wheels. Black on the rolling part?

Basically, I have a test track on my kitchen table, no layout yet , so everything is close together.

Well, I placed my engine in a foam cradle with the intention of opening it up and looking for a loose wire or connection. 

First, while the engine was in the cradle, upside down, I used jumpers to hook the engine up to my transformer in conventional mode. It started up fine and ran in both directions with out any issue. Next, I hooked up my TMCC and ran the engine using the controller. 

It ran perfectly. No stoppages or hesitation. The electronics seemed fine. It seemed to be a mechanical connection issue.

The wheels looked awfully black. They seemed to have too much blackening or sintering. I used a track cleaning block to clean the wheels, getting them clean and shiny. 

That solved the problem. Now the engine runs back and forth perfectly on my test track.

My MTH test track is a MTH track with a lock-on, connecting to the hot center rail and one common rail. I used my jumpers to connect the two common tracks, just to make sure there was a good connection. Problem is solved. 

Good thing. The frustration of a brand new $500+ locomotive not working was building. It almost became part of the kitchen drywall...lol

Thanks for the response, CJACK. I appreciate the quick and informative response.

Tom

Thanks for posting the solution.  Sometimes the easy things works best.  We can add this to things to look for.  I imagine it could hurt the track half of the signal reception but you would think if it was getting power that wouldn't be the case.  The S-2 looks  like a nice locomotive.  Have fun with it and let us know if you have any other issues.  Cjack nice job as well. 

As far as spelling, I'm guilty of that from time to time as well.  Why it had to be a big deal I have no idea.

Thanks Marty.

Thanks for your kind response. Yes, the wheels were really black. If I hadn't pushed down on the engine while applying power, it never would have occurred to me to clean them, especially being a brand new locomotive . The loss of rail signal never occurred to me either, but your suggestion is likely spot on, being a big part of the problem to begin with. I am new to TMCC and Legacy, so I have a tendency to look at power issues rather than signal issues. Thanks for the information.

Tom

Krieglok posted:

The wheels looked awfully black. They seemed to have too much blackening or sintering. I used a track cleaning block to clean the wheels, getting them clean and shiny. 

That solved the problem. Now the engine runs back and forth perfectly on my test track.

My MTH test track is a MTH track with a lock-on, connecting to the hot center rail and one common rail. I used my jumpers to connect the two common tracks, just to make sure there was a good connection. Problem is solved. 

Good thing. The frustration of a brand new $500+ locomotive not working was building. It almost became part of the kitchen drywall...lol

Thanks for the response, CJACK. I appreciate the quick and informative response.

Tom

 

Tom,

With the two axle trucks having rubber tires on one of the axles it leaves us with only 4 wheels for conductivity. We've discovered in most cases where our equipment stops it is almost always the outer rail/common part of the circuit. What we thought were roller spacing issues turned out to be an insulated rail in conjunction with a turnout or crossing. Glad to hear you've solved the issue. It's a nice looking engine, hope you enjoy it!

BobbyD posted:

Tom,

With the two axle trucks having rubber tires on one of the axles it leaves us with only 4 wheels for conductivity. We've discovered in most cases where our equipment stops it is almost always the outer rail/common part of the circuit. What we thought were roller spacing issues turned out to be an insulated rail in conjunction with a turnout or crossing. Glad to hear you've solved the issue. It's a nice looking engine, hope you enjoy it!

Thanks Bobby. One thing that caught my eye was how the traction tires are so thick. They almost seem too large. The situation of the trucks having trouble making contact is a new lesson for me. 

Thanks, everyone for the helpful information. 

Tom

Some of the Lionel engines did ship with traction tires that were too thick.  I've had several that the tires actually rubbed on the brake shoes and caused all sorts of running issues.  My fix is usually the much thinner MTH tires.

Here is a picture of one of the trucks and the wheels with traction tires. They do look a bit too thick...

Tom

That's the kind of tire that I replace with the MTH tire.

Tom:

I kind of stumbled across your topic here and after reading how you addressed the issue with your S-2 the light bulb went on in my head.

I received a Lionel Reading Northeastern style caboose last Christmas and the interior lighting would either flicker constantly or simply go out and stay out for a period of time before going back on just as suddenly as it had gone out.

I love the caboose as it’s the proper red with brown roof, trucks and end platforms to run behind my MTH Reading F3’s but, the light issue was driving me nuts.

After seeing your post; I got my Dremel out and used the little wire wheel attachment to remove blacking from the caboose wheels.  Put the caboose back on my layout and the erratic lighting issue has gone away.

Thank you for posting a great tip!

Curt

Curt, you are more than welcome! I stumbled across the remedy just by accident when I was tinkering with the S-2. In the case of the engine, the blackened wheels and slightly oversized traction tires were adding up to an annoying failure. 

I get the bug for cleaning wheels from running N and HO scales for so many years.  Clean wheels are a must in the smaller scales. I guess the same goes for O scale now! Lol

I am glad the caboose lights consistently now. It is always rewarding to fix a problem on a troublesome piece of equipment! Glad I was able to help by sharing my limited experiences!

Tom

hi Tom,  This is a very helpful post! Sometimes,  I have some issues like this and just assume its the track or a major issue with the engine. 

Krieglok posted:

Here is a picture of one of the trucks and the wheels with traction tires. They do look a bit too thick...

Tom

Wowzer that's a big tread!

I wish I had taken a picture of the "black" wheels before I cleaned them. The combination of the blackening on the wheel treads and the large traction tires were likely combining to cause the problem I had.

The engine runs great on my test track now, but when it encounters switches and uneven trackwork (when I build a layout, lol) the oversized traction tires may make their presence known and cause more issues.

I took GRJ's advice and ordered some thinner tires for this unit. I have other recently made Lionel engines and this is the first time I encountered this issue. Like John mentioned, it was likely a somewhat isolated issue.

Thanks for all the great comments!

Tom

Krieglok posted:

Basically, I have a test track on my kitchen table, no layout yet , so everything is close together.

Well, I placed my engine in a foam cradle with the intention of opening it up and looking for a loose wire or connection. 

First, while the engine was in the cradle, upside down, I used jumpers to hook the engine up to my transformer in conventional mode. It started up fine and ran in both directions with out any issue. Next, I hooked up my TMCC and ran the engine using the controller. 

It ran perfectly. No stoppages or hesitation. The electronics seemed fine. It seemed to be a mechanical connection issue.

The wheels looked awfully black. They seemed to have too much blackening or sintering. I used a track cleaning block to clean the wheels, getting them clean and shiny. 

That solved the problem. Now the engine runs back and forth perfectly on my test track.

My MTH test track is a MTH track with a lock-on, connecting to the hot center rail and one common rail. I used my jumpers to connect the two common tracks, just to make sure there was a good connection. Problem is solved. 

Good thing. The frustration of a brand new $500+ locomotive not working was building. It almost became part of the kitchen drywall...lol

Thanks for the response, CJACK. I appreciate the quick and informative response.

Tom

 

"...almost became part of the...drywall" - har. Been there, done (felt) that. Glad you stuck with it.

As an aside, I have never had a wheel issue like that - with 1 exception (and I've bought numerous locos, new and used), from years ago.

My first Lionel TMCC USRA 2-6-6-2, which I bought new, would not run or run only fitfully. Expensive, beautiful, wheels and pickups out the wazoo, and screwed up. I was not happy. I'd push it. Then it would stop again. And again. Then it stopped less. And less. And gradually began to run like the proverbial Swiss watch. Some sort of varnish (a generic term) was on the wheels from manufacturing. It wore off. My second one was used and ran fine.

Sometimes patience pays off, especially with these small flaws having big consequences.

Thanks and you are right. Patience did pay off. I ended up installing thinner traction tires too. The original Lionel tire were so thick, the engine would actually derail on slight curves. The thinner tires fixed that.

See the before and after pics below...

I guess like any piece of machinery, a "run-in" period always seems beneficial to a new locomotive. Good to hear about your 2-6-6-2. This stuff is too expensive not to work right!

Tom

Kind of frustrating when the engineering (I guess...size of traction tires) is so poor that the product does not function properly right out of the box.

I've taken brand new Lionel locomotives out of the box and the traction tires were so thick they were binding on the brake shoes, no way it was going to run right with the stock tires!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've taken brand new Lionel locomotives out of the box and the traction tires were so thick they were binding on the brake shoes, no way it was going to run right with the stock tires!

John, I replaced the tires after you suggested it. It made a huge difference. The tires that were on there, were definitely in contact with the sideframes/brakeshoes.

That issue really didn't hit home until I tried running the engine on a O-72 curve, from a straight section. It derailed everytime it entered the curve. The big tires were making the wheels climb the rail.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Tom

Lionel having a lot of QC problems lately.

It seems many items from China have QC issues. I used to deal in airsoft guns and anything from China, especially higher priced items, always needed some amount of tweaking or downright repair before they would work properly.

The airsoft industry and market just takes the poor QC in stride as returns are basically a dead end. 

No body tests stuff before they ship it, especially with new trains...

Tom