I had that problem once. It turned out that there was a speck of metal, or something hard, stuck in the grease between two of the gear teeth behind the wheel.
Bob Nelson
It sounds like one of the rod eccentrics is out of sorts and is not letting the wheels make a complete revolution. Can you post pics of both sides of the engine wheels?
Rob
If I follow you correctly you can turn the drivers freely with no binding?
And you're sure there's current to the track?
Are you using a transformer with short-circuit indicator or protection, and are you getting a short warning or is the breaker popping?
OK, does the locomotive's headlight come on? Can you hear a buzz from the E-unit? If no to both questions, your E-unit may have gone bad, it happened to a 224 steamer I've got, although it was obvious when it happened, there was a shower of sparks and the engine stopped cold, AND the breaker popped on my Z-1000 transformer.
If the engine hasn't been run in a long, long time, or even if you run it fairly often, you can try cleaning the E-unit with electrical contact cleaning spray, most hardware stores have it. Spray it out good and give it plenty of time to dry.
If the E-unit's dead, a quick fix to get going again is to remove the E-unit and solder the pick-up wires directly to the motor. That's what I did to get forward-only movement. Since I rarely back a train on my small layout it's no big deal, one day I'll replace the E-unit.
Wish I was there looking over your shoulder.
By the way, is this the 2026 2-6-2 or the 2026 2-6-4? My 224 that crapped out was a 2-6-2. Either way both 2026's are at the 65 year old mark or near to it, anything's possible at this late date.
i can spin the wheels by hand halfway around the pickups get current but locomotive will not move
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month