Lionel milk car problems

[Steve1964]

Hi guys,

I put my 3472 milk car on the track last night, and found that it will do nothing. It was working great before now. I tested the track with my log car, and that car works fine. I figured that  the sliding shoe was at fault, so I jumped the control rail to the coil wire in the car, and still nothing.

Having had such good luck overhauling the motor on my recently bought 2023 Alco, I feel like this repair should be very simple, but I just can't diagnose the problem. Do any of you out there have any ideas?

Thanks!

Steve

[TrainLarry]

Connect both leads of your transformer directly to to both leads of the coil. The coil should work. If it does not, there probably is a broken wire internally.

Larry

[BigAl 956]

 If you put power and ground to each shoe the car should operate. What I find is the old wires are often brittle and break off the shoes. Note the older generation cars do not use a common ground return. They must get ground on one shoe and power on the other.

[Steve1964]

Thanks for your information, and you were exactly right. The wires are extremely brittle, and one was broken at the shoe.

Steve