Hot Pickup on Lionel #50 Gang Car

[JTrains]

For Christmas I got the boy a #50 Gang Car off Da Bay and I think have now got it back to good running shape.  One thing I’ve noticed, though, is the center rail collector on it gets hot – like really hot – after running for a few minutes.  I’ve already replaced the roller on it (it was worn to the point of having a groove in it). Nothing else I run ever ends up with a hot pickup – but then again there’s nothing else I run with a single pickup pulling as much current as it does.  Is this normal?  And if not, does anyone have suggestions on how to get it to run cooler?

[Michael Pags]

I had a similar situation with a #50 Gang Car after cleaning the motor.  The motor ran hot. Then cleaned the wheels and reran the unit. Motor temp much improved.  Try cleaning the wheels and see if temp comes down.

Michael

[TrainLarry]

An extremely hot roller pickup indicates excessive current draw. If you have not already, completely disassemble the car and clean all parts including the armature, brushplate, brushes, bearings, all sliding parts and wheels with naphtha. Lightly oil the wheel bearings, and make sure the wheels turn freely before reassembling the armature. Grease the sliding plate surfaces, and reassemble the car. Make sure the pickup roller is clean, as are its pivot points. Lastly, make sure your track is clean also. Dirty track is an insulator, and will cause high resistance electrical pickup problems manifested as heat, even with a properly lubed car.

Larry

[JTrains]

So, I ended up solving my own problem.  Since the motor didn't get hot, I discounted the likelihood of excessive current draw (since I'd already cleaned-n-lubed everything).  I thought that perhaps I had either poor intra-collector connectivity between the roller and the pin (which might be causing sparking that I couldn't see) or even some mechanical friction (although the roller moved freely). So I shot some DeoxIT into the collector, gave it a couple of minutes, and then took it for a spin - problem solved!  At least for now.

My next though was going to be to apply some Bachmann EZ-Lube conductive lube to the collector - but it doesn't seem to be necessary. We'll see in the coming days.  As a side note: the Bachmann lube freezes when exposed to the cold we're seeing here in the midwest. Not get sluggish - but actually forms a crystalline structure, as that's how I found it in the mailbox today.  Not that that's bad, but it was unexpected.