2046W Tinder won't whistle when moving on track

[tinker1956]

I've been working on getting my old 2046 Loco and 2046W tinder up and running again and all is going well with one strange problem.   When the train is on the track not moving and I apply power with my 50s era ZW transformer, the tinder whistle works great.  However, when I cycle through and start the train moving - no whistle.

I'm guessing this might have someting to do with the contacts on the tinder, but looking to see if anyone has ever experienced a similar problem.

 

Thanks

[Leverettrailfan]

Does the locomotive slow down? It could be the motor is drawing too much current and/or there's friction slowing it down. I found that replacing motor brushes helped my whistle tenders a little bit- lubrication certainly was needed. You also could be right about the relay having trouble- it never hurts to clean the relay and play around with adjusting the spacing of the contacts if needed.

-Ellie

[ADCX Rob]

The tender roller spring tension is weak.

[Flintlock76]

ADCX Rob

The tender roller spring tension is weak.

 

Good point.  I'd also suggest cleaning the tender roller and truck wheels, I had a tender acting a little flaky yesterday and a good cleaning of the wheels and rollers took care of the problem. 

Cleaning and lubing the whistle motor's a good suggestion as well.  It's been pointed out in the past that even though the engines may have been given a lot of TLC in the past frequently the whistle tenders were ignored.

[BigAl 956]

Couple things come to mind. Make sure the whistle motor is lubed with no more than a tiny drop of lube. Assuming the power roller is clean and making good contact, the next best thing you can do is to replace the 70 year old rectifier disc in the transformer with a modern stud rectifier. Thise produce a powerful clean DC that gives the wistle relay a strong burst of power.

[tinker1956]

Thanks everyone for your replies on my post.   I have already lubed the motor on the tender whistle.   The locomotive does not slow down when I push the whistle button.  I will check the springs on the roller pickups and if all else fails, I may look at replacing the rectifier disc in the transformer.

I will provide an update when I have had a chance to work on it some more.

 

Thanks again.

[tinker1956]

I had a chance to work on this a little more and noticed that the roller assemblies on the bottom of the tender were sticking a little and not able to move up and down freely.   I applied a little oil to the appropriate areas and the tender now whistles strongly when moving or at a stand still.  Amazing what a little oil will do to these trains.   

Thanks to everyone for their input and advice.

[Flintlock76]

You're welcome!

I think it may have been Bob Keller a few years back in "CTT" who brought up the subject of tender maintanance, saying that no matter what care the engines got the tenders almost always seemed to be ignored.  He was right! 

Like most of the post-war technology on those trains it IS amazing what a cleaning and lubing can do to bring them back to life.