Any recommendations as to where to get a 4006 Big Boy repaired?
This one has lost some sounds, chuff, brake, and smoke output. The smoke comes out but the fan does not work. The system restore does not help.
Can the tender alone be sent or do both need to be sent out?
Are there any authorised Lionel Repair centers in your area? The only other thing would be to contact Lionel themselves.
Check the Lionel web site to locate the nearest Lionel Authorized Repair center. If nothing is within reasonable driving distance then your best bet is contacting Lionel CS for a return authorization to their facility in Ohio.
Bill T.
There are no nearby repair centers nearby.
I contacted Lionel and they gave me an RA number to send it in for repair.
After I sent it out Lionel finally answered me and said to check the little black
board under the tender and make sure it was plugged in properly. This
is most likely the motion sensor. I have no idea of the part # or if they will
even sell parts to us.
No schematic or parts list came with this engine.
It seems for the price they charge it should be included.
Having to have this engine repaired with so little run time sure
scares me. It seems like these new engines may be a real
service nightmare.
What's the product number of this locomotive?
I don't know if it's neccessarily a product number, but the loco is identified as a 4006 Big Boy.
here is a parts list for you http://www.lionel.com/CustomerService/ReplacementParts/index.cfm?doAction=productPartFilter&number=6101149001&productID=98072af9-86ac-41ee-822a-e4568a7b32ef
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
6-11149
That site will only let me go to the first page and not the other 17.
Thats not 17 pages thats 17 items you click on the camera icon to see a pic of the part
Can any of those parts be replaced with parts from ERR?
None of the parts in the 6-11149 Legacy Big Boy are compatible with the ERR stuff that is all pre-Legacy.
Short of a Lionel repair facility, I don't know what to suggest. If it were mine, I'd open it up and try to figure out what was going on.
Loss of chuff and modulated smoke can be a common failure, but I don't know about the brake sounds, those would seem not to be related. Have you checked the chuff switch to see if it's actually making contact? Traced the wires? The Chuff switch is the first item on the Lionel Parts List and I'm guessing it's somewhere in the bowels of that locomotive where the wheel rotation can actuate it for the synchronized chuff.
Thats the item they call the cherry switch and don't ask me why.
To make only 17 items available on a loco that has hundreds is pretty rediculous. I guess they are trying to keep all the repairs for themselves and from this indication there will be plenty of those repairs.
It seems like I can get parts for engines that are 60 years old a lot easier than I can get new train parts.
Thanks for the info,
Dave
To show only 17 parts on an engine that has 100s is pretty bad. I guess they want to keep all the repairs to themselves. I did look at the picture of the part but I did not pull the engine apart to see where it is located. I sent the whole engine and tender back to Lionel repair. I hope I don't regret that.
I can get parts for 60+ year old engines but not for new ones.
I am quickly losing faith in the new Lionel company. The new stuff may look and sound nice but keeping it running may be a nightmare. I am thinking about getting rid of any new engines I have and just running the old reliable ones.
Interesting !
????? Am I missing something?
Lionel did give you the Authorization to Return (RA) the locomotive. They asked you to "check" the tender plug first ?
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Cherry is a brand of miniature switches: http://www.cherrycorp.com/
Bob Nelson
The reason the Cherry Switch is so named is for a long time Cherry Corporation was the dominant manufacturer of this type of microswitch. They got the name and it stuck.
Thanks for the info.
It would seem that they would use some type of magnetic switch for this type of job as a microswitch would surely wear out quickly used in this way.
Lionel has recieved the engine for repair. 5/29/12
I will let you know what they charge and the turn around time for this repair.
Depending on the time of year, when Lionel's repair Techs aren't too busy, they might give you some remedy info. over the phone, if it is not a big problem.
Sometimes, by phone, they'll walk you through a problem solving solution.
My local hobby shop was a Lionel 'Authorized/Certified Repair-Service Station,' but are no longer, so I have to rely on Lionel's Ohio service center.
Train-O
Well they got it back pretty quick.
They recieved it on May 29th and it was back at my door on June 8th for a total of 11 days, 14 if you include my shipping it to them. Thats not bad. Checked it out and all is well now. This problem had occured intermittently a couple of times before it totally went out so it most likely was a bad connection.
They charged only the labor charge of 60.00. The problem was stated as 2 burnt wires. Having been in electronics for over 30 years that sounds strange to me.
More than likely it was a bad solder connection from the factory. In all my years of doing electronic repair about 50% of all the repairs were bad PC solder connections, breaks in the PC or bad solder connections due to heat. I would estimate that only about 2% of repairs were from any kind of burnt wire and that usually occured due to a bad connection. The latter may have been the problem with this unit.
The burnt wires sometimes happen when a wire gets pinched in the shell, I've had several locomotives with cooked wires, including one that the wire was totally burned in half!
I beleive that some of those 17 items are marked as unavailable. Unfortunately, newer trains, with more scale fidelity seem to have an ever increasing number of unique parts, making it difficult for the companies to stock them. The lack of parts for these trains is a large factor in my purchasing decisions.
Yes I agree.
Some of the items are NLA on the tiny list.
I have a few of the newer models, (4), and that will probably be it for me. Even though they are more detailed and sound great.. I think I will add some of the newer sounds to the old locos and that will be the way I will go.
My grandsons will not get to run the newer ones too much as they seem to be very delicate. The older more durable ones will serve them just fine, They run great even though some are over 60 years old and the parts are still available for them.
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