Happy New Year Everyone !
I have a Lionel #25 Polar Express 0-8-0 Locomotive. She runs pretty well, but doesn't like to go slow through Lionel O-22 switches. There seems to to be a dead spot. At slow speeds the loco stops and looses electrical contact. Looks like the center rail pick-ups should have enough spacing that one will always be on steel rail. The loco does ride up some on the rail going through the frog. Am I loosing electrical contact on the drive wheels ? I have tried cleaning the pick-ups on the loco and cleaned the track - but still having the problem. This is a switching locomotive and going slow through the switches is kind of necessary when switching cars in the yard. Any ideas ?
Steve
Get your Mark 1 eyeballs down at track level where you can see what is happening and determine what the cause is of the intermittent contact. If the loco is riding up on the frog, it may be lifting up the roller pickup.
Does this happen in both directions, divergent and straight?
servoguy Get your Mark 1 eyeballs down at track level where you can see what is happening and determine what the cause is of the intermittent contact. If the loco is riding up on the frog, it may be lifting up the roller pickup. Does this happen in both directions, divergent and straight?
OK - I have put my Mark 1 Eyeball down at track level.
Looks like the frog lifts up the drive wheels and she is loosing contact with the outside rails. At least one of the center rail pick-up rollers still has contact with the center steel rail. I have let the Loco stall on the switch - left the power on - and taking a short piece of wire make contact between the outside rail and one of the drivers and the headlight comes on.
Anybody else having this problem with this style of Lionel 0-8-0 Locomotive and O-22 switches ?
Another thing that is strange is that the whistle on the tender only works with the engine on the track. Push the whistle switch on the transformer (ZW) with Engine and Tender on the track and the whistle blows. Remove the Engine and leave the Tender on the track, hit the whistle switch - no whistle. Blow whistle with Tender + Engine on the track, whistle sounds nicely. Keeping whistle switch engaged as whistle blows - I lift the Engine off the track and the whistle keeps blowing. But release the switch and push again - no whistle. ???? Whats going on here ?
Also - the drawbar post on the loco is grounded to the outside rails. With the Engine in neutral - I put one lead of my voltmeter on the center rail - and the other lead on the drawbar post and the voltmeter shows voltage. The tender has a wire soldered to the drawbar, which looks to be connected to the wire that goes to the contacts on the wheels on the tender. I would think that this would help the Engine keep electrical contact with the outside rails. But - I guess not.
Any feedback on this would be appreciated.
OK - After messing around a while - I took off the rubber traction tire and the Engine rolls throught the switches with no problems. At slow speed - forwards - backwards. So ........ should I run this Locomotive with out the traction tire ? I guess that damage could be to the small flange that holds the traction tire on the rim of the wheel.
Any ideas.
I am not overly familiar with the 0-8-0s, but in the postwar era Lionel put a copper spring on the drawbar of the tender of its 0-4-0 switchers so that the engine would be positively grounded through the drawbar/ frame/trucks/wheels of the tender. If everything just mentioned is metal, perhaps something similar could be rigged up?
J White
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