I have a prewar lionel 253 electric engine that runs fast and slow and the lights dim and get bright. It runs fast on the curved sections. On the straight sections it slows down and then picks up speed and goes fast and slow again and then fast. The pick up rollers arc when the train is being ran. After running it for awhile I would take it off the track and feel the bottom. The contact rollers get very hot to the point where you do not want to touch them or you will get burned. The four drive wheels do not get hot. I was thinking it was one of the wires making the motor short out making the pick up rollers get hot. I have cleaned the pick up rollers but it still arcs and they get very hot. Any help would be appreciated if any one has had this problem with prewar motors.
A lot of heat means there's lots of resistance. Start with new brushes and springs after a good cleaning of the armiture and make sure all is lubed properly. I've had to put in new rollers on a few engines too, but start with the brushes and springs.
Welcome to the forum!
Clean all the wheels, the pickup rollers, the track, the copper armature commutator segments, the brushes and brush springs with Naphtha.
This works for any locomotive.
Larry
Thank You.
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