My VL Challenger 6-11210 UP #3967 has been doing great - until this morning.
When I first powered up the track (it was sitting on a siding uncoupled from any consist) it began making a rhythmic clicking noise with the lights flickering at the same time, like some internal breaker or relay was tripping then resetting. It was not tripping track power breaker at this point.
So, I turned the track power back off and powered everything down.
I restarted everything but the same problem was there. So I manually moved the loco and tender to the main line. Power on both the main and siding was 18.1 volts so that wasn’t the issue.
I inspected the underside of both units looking for something obvious but saw nothing. I then put both on the main line coupled them back up. Turning on the track resulted in the same issue but this time the track power breaker tripped then reset then tripped again so I turned it back off.
I pulled them back off the track looking for what might be causing the short but again nothing visible. So I put them back on the track but this time uncoupled from each other. Which still caused the same trip so I turned off the power again, removed the tender from the track, and reset the power. Tripped again.
I put the tender on and removed the loco. Powered back up and no trips.
Then I turned off the power to the track and even the Legacy station. Powered everything down and set the Challenger back on the track for one last try. Then I restarted everything including the Legacy system and as soon as I turned on the track power - EVERY LOCOMOTIVE started up! All of them! Lights were on, engines were running and the bell on the Challenger was clanging!
I immediately turned off the track power. I verified the legacy system was on - it was - and decided one more try so I could video it. See the vid below.
I removed the Challenger from the track and repowered up and everything was normal again. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
Obviously there is something wrong electrically with the Locomotive. I’ve packed it back up and will be calling Lionel tomorrow to get a path forward. Any ideas or recommendations?
