Lionel coal car whistle doesn't work

[Anonymous]

My Lionel coal car that contains the whistle doesn't work anymore. I took it apart and didn't see any wires loose or disconnected. Any suggestions on a fix or where I could get parts for it?

[Jim Duda]

What transformer?
What happens if you put ONLY the coal car on the track and crank the voltage up to max and press the whistle button?
Perhaps the whistle circuitry in your transformer isn't functioning...

[ben10ben]

If you didn't see my post on Model Railroader, here it is again

"It could be one of any number of things. Often, a few drops of lubrication in the end of the armature shaft will help things along quite abit, although lack of this usually won't keep one from whistling at all.

You could also have dirty relay contacts, which need to be burnished with a piece of sandpaper rubbed lightly between them.

You may be in need of a new set of brushes.

Usually, though, a tender will still at least try to whistle if one of these things is the problem. Before trying anything else, reverse the wires to the track, and try again. This usually doesn't make a difference, but sometimes can, so it's worth a try.

After this, put power to the track, set the tender on it, and operate the transformer whistle control. Listen for a click from the relay. If the relay clicks, you most likely have a loose connection somewhere between the relay and the motor(I can provide a diagram).

If operating the whistle control gets no response from the relay, try manually closing the relay contacts with a screwdriver. If you get no response, you probably have a bad connection somewhere between the relay and the track. If the whistle starts blowing, you probably have a bad whistle control in your transformer. If you have acess to a voltmeter and could provide the model of the transfomer(usually printed on a metal plate on the top), I could describe a simple test that would allow you to confirm this."