I wish every postwar engine I have ran like my Budd400 (plus the associated non powered units). And they are so pretty to watch on a darkened layout!
But my question to the forum is: how do I distinguish the original postwar (nonpowered) units from the Lionel Classic reissues (currently in my LHS is 2 car and 3 car sets)?
HOLY HANNAH, HOLD EVERYTHING! I WAS RUNNING THE BUDDS AS I WAS TYPING, SUDDENLY, AFTER 20 OR SO LAPS, THE 400 STOPS, SWITCHING ITSELF INTO NEUTRAL, AND I CANNOT GET IT OUT OF NEUTRAL.... SO MUCH FOR MY WISH! WHAT MAKES AN E-UNIT STAY HUNG UP IN NEUTRAL?
POSTWAR OPERATING SEEMS NEVER TO BE EASY FOR LONG. IT SEEMS EVERYTHING I HAVE WILL ACT UP (BREAK DOWN MAY BE A BETTER DESCRIPTION) IF i OPERATE IT FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES! MAYBE IT SHOULD ALL JUSTGBE ON DISPLAY MOST OF THE TIME??
(FRUSTRATED)RUNTIME
What makes you sure it's in neutral? An open circuit in any of a number of places in the motor circuit will mimic neutral. Any of the three wires between the e-unit and the motor could be open, as well as the field coil or its connection to the frame or the wire supplying track voltage to the e-unit fingers.
Bob Nelson
basicly as bob said when I was a youngen I had a wire come off the pul-mor motor in my 2359 it still lit up but wouldn't move.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Thanks for the replies guys.
I'll guess I'll have to pull the cover off and investigate. I got this set for Christmas in 60 or 61, and it has not seen much use since, so I am puzzles why it would malfunction.
runtime
Let me correct that time frame... it was obviously between 56 and 58, since that's the mfg time frame. I still remember opening the boxers that Christmas. By Christmas '59 I was 13 and trains were no longer cool,...girls were. So around then is when the trains no longer were set up...for the next 20 + years.
Never minding the nostalgia....you guys had the problem pegged.
The wire from the e-unit to the motor coil had broken at the connection to the motor. This wiring seems to be a weak point in this unit, the wires are almost too short considering they need to allow for the swiveling of the motor. The wire that broke had obviously been resoldered previously. The back and forth motion on turns will eventually fatigue the wire if there is insufficient slack. This was the situation in my 400 unit. This time I added about two inches of very flexible stranded wire. Hopefully this will hold up. The wires get a lot of back and forth on my layout since it's all 031 curves, with two 90 degree and eight 45 degree turns.
Thanks again,
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