I have a Lionel 1666 Steam Locomotive. A few days ago she was running pretty ragged. The e-unit would trip causing the loco to stop - reverse -stop etc.... Happened over switches, and on straight sections of track. I switched off the e-unit so she was in forward, then ran her for several laps around the layout. Then I switched the e-unit back on, and now she seems to run normal, did not sputter or miss behave as she was before. Cycles from forward - neutral - reverse like she should.
Any ideas whats going on here ?
Steve
I believe the e unit lever completes the return path for the coil in the e unit. Perhaps the contacts that make when the lever is engaged were dirty, and moving the lever once cleaned them up a bit?
J White
I have found that my locos equiped with slide shoes seem to be less tolerant of dirty track.Running yours might have allowed it wear through the dirt on the shoes and track.
Also your lever on your e-unit may be loose causing a bad connection. When you moved it, it may be in a different or tighter spot, and you have a better connection now.
You may have to open her up and tighten up the rivet that holds the lever in place.
Thanks for the input ... when I get some time I'm going to open her up and check under the boiler.
Another issue with slider equipped locos is dirt and corrosion between the shoe and the spring/plate.
I rebuilt two of that style recently, the unit kept tripping the e-unit.....and it wasn't the e-unit. Close observation showed the headlamp flickered when it happened, enough to drop the e-unit and cycle it.
Had to remove the fibre plate, re-configure the tension spring, clean spring, plate and shoe end, problem solved.....and two locos he was going to dump at a TTOS auction now are being retained!Dave
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