Trouble With Newer Lionel Engines

I own MTH and Lionel loco's, never had any problems.  But I've never purchased a new loco direct from the manufacturer or a LHS!!!

You don't say how many years of 100 hours a year.  Things do wear out.  Have you regularly lubricated these locos during their years of use?  Just something to consider.

Presumably Lionel will give you a diagnosis on these locos, which may help prevent further failures.  With an n=2, could just be bad luck.

I probably should have included that I've had the permanent layout up and running for just over 2 years.  These broken engines aren't run much during the summer months, so probably less than 80 hours a year.  And yes, both engines have been lubed and oiled as needed.  I've had my original Lionel "Cleartrack Special" set from 1955 with the old 2037 steamer with lots more run time on it and it performs flawlessly to this day.

I don't know about the newer Lionel engines but in the 1980's Lionel was using plastic gears quite a bit in their lower end engines. Plastic is cheaper to mass produce then metal gears so Lionel used plastic.

Lee Fritz

No.  The last serious problem I had was a U-Boat three years ago or so.  Fixed in one trip back.  

I had two that I did 'surgery' on because I was not pleased in some way - not real problems, but:

• The conventional Mogul from several years ago.  Mine ran okay, but not smoothly, slowly, like most of my Lionel.  Not sure if it had a problem on not.  I replaced chass and drive with that from a WBB Baldwin 10-wheeler, keepi9ng the Lionel sound, etc.  Nice project and nice loco as a result. 
• The Legacy Berkshire.  Great loco - one of the best - but the cab is a scale foot too low in my opinion: I replaced it and now love this loco: runs more than any other I have. 

I

12 newer Lionel engines......absolutely NO problems at all.

Steve, Lady and Tex

Have you lubed the worm gears inside the trucks? If the smaller exposed gears are fine its likely the inner gears are the ones failing.

The pickup roller assembly and cover on the bottom of the trucks must be removed to lube the worm gears.

I lubed the inner gears on my legacy gp7 shortly after I got it. The gearbox had minimal grease and most of it was stuck to the side of the gearbox. I filled the gearbox with red n' tacky and its probably good for the rest of the time I own it.

Have never lubed the worm gear inside the trucks.  Didn't know were were supposed to do that, since that tip is nowhere to be found in any of the operating manuals.

When I get them back from Lionel, I'll lube the worm gear drive and hope that makes a difference for the new buyers.  Thank you for the tip RickO.

Vern

I've had trouble with Williams, too; haven't had much with ANY of the brands; I own

mostly L or M or K; Atlas and 3rd Rail are fussier.

But it's still extremely disappointing to go through your experiences.

Plastic gears? We all have a prejudice against them, but it's mostly not founded in 

reality - so long as the plastic is the correct material. It can be a low-quality

solution, but it needn't be. The "low-end" Lionel RS-3's with many plastic gears will

run out a very long life.

I have three Legacy engines.

USRA Mikado - Bad smoke unit, had to send it in to replace the fan motor under warranty. Annoying to have to spend thirty bucks on postage to replace a three-dollar part, but it's been fine since I got it back. 

Milwaukee Road Northern - Hypersensitive to bad track. At our museum it would derail at the drop of the hat, to the point where I couldn't run it there at all. Everybody was stumped because out of dozens of engines operated by members, it was the only one with a consistent derailing problem. The track crew relaid a lot of track and the problem went away, so the bottom line is that this particular engine is just very sensitive to the quality of trackwork. Other than that, no issues other than erratic operation of the cylinder steam effect. 

Milwaukee Road Bi-polar electric: No operating issues. Engine arrived NIB with some broken detail parts that Lionel was unable to provide replacements for. Fixed it myself. No reason to send it in under warranty since they didn't have the parts anyway. 

Thank you for your input everyone. I guess the newer Lionel engines just don't like me.

Vern

Don't you fret none 'ole Yellowstone.

It can happen to the best of them.

I've read stories here where Premier MTH has taken a dive.

Even Apple computers is having problems now over in the Motherland.

The rumor mill says there is a revolt going on among the various factories.

This is why also we are seeing all the shipping delays.

I knew eventually the peasants would wake up over there.

They are getting screwed worst then even an American worker over here.

I suspect in time the American corporations will move somewhere else.

Anyway stay positive.

Who knows maybe they'll move back home.  Hells bells, they charge us like it's made here right.

Thanx 3rd rail.

Another thing that Lionel has done is to sell single motor GP-7's in the 1990's. I remember buying an I.C. GP-7 that had only one motor, it would only haul three quad hoppers at a decent rate of speed even when powered by a post war ZW and it was the only engine or accessory getting any power from the ZW.

Lee Fritz