Thomas the Tank Troubles

[DCmontana]

Santa brought my three year old the Lionel Thomas the Tank set this Christmas. I didn't think to much of the transformer problems I was reading about on the forum until about 3 weeks ago when we started having problems. It had trouble starting powered by the transformer and would nearly stop several places on the track. It did not cycle well and needed help to get going. I checked it from top to bottom, oiled it up and same old story. Ran it on my layout powered by a ZW and it went like crazy. Ran it on the fastrack, very problamatic! I was ready to pack up the transformer for a trip to Lionel when I thought of something else. I ran my hand over the track and came back with the original black hand and I have never had anything to do with the Mafia. I cleaned the track and away we went. Runs like a charm again.

So I wonder, is the fastrack more prone to needing cleaning or what? Would the Polar Express have similar problems? Everything is working as it should now!

[Anonymous]

My layout is FasTrack, and I've never heard it needed cleaning any more than other track. Yours probably saw a lot more "action" than we "grown-up kids" give to our layouts [:)] Joe

[riverrailfan]

Could be climate. I used fast track for my Christmas layout on the first floor of my house with no problems. Now I have it in my basement and have to clean it every other day. Same black residue.

[BR60103]

We haven't had any problems with the polar express yet, but it hasn't been run very much.
I just got out my original Lionel cars from 1953, and the wheels were thick with crud. So much for metal wheels being cleaner! I noticed an interesting wear pattern on the wheels, which looks related to the tubular track they ran on.

[Jumijo]

FasTrack has a larger, flatter surface than tubular. My FasTrack will turn your hand black after just one train session. I clean the tracks once a week with isopropol alchohol.

Thomas likes his tracks clean!

Jim

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

I have some fastrack, and it does seem to attract alot of dirt. It seems I am cleaning track more than running trains.

By the way, How good is Lionel's Thomas. I'd like to buy him and his friends James and Percy to have to run on a Display I am thinking of Doing at church, to get more poeple into trains.

With my trains, and Thomas and his pals, I could appeal to more than just the adults.

steel rails

[Anonymous]

Been lurking since Christmas when ChiefEagles got my grandson a Thomas set and now I see a question I can answer so you forced me to register!

I agree with the cleaning Fastrack with alcohol. It's worked well for me.

I encountered problems running Aydan's Thomas on my Polar Express track and was told that the reason the Thomas power strip has the light in it is because the voltage draw of the light eliminates the problems you mention. With me, as long as Thomas stays on his own track with the lighted power strip he does great.

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

And, again welcome to the forum.

steel rails

[Anonymous]

I noticed performance problems, due to dirty track, in the first few weeks of running our Thomas set. I'm not sure if the track came from the factory with a coating of some sort on the rails or if it was comming from the wheels and/or pickup rollers. However, after cleaning the track a couple of times, it seems to be staying clean now.

[Jumijo]

A lot of issues with Thomas can be traced back to the CW-80 controller. If you don't have the lighted terminal section, it can be problematic. Another thing to consider is lubrication. Thomas likes to be well oiled (don't we all). Oil his chassis as indicated in the instruction booklet and also, a little grease on his eye gears will work wonders. You can access those by removing the top, black part of his boiler.

Jim

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by steel rails

Hey Ya'll

I have some fastrack, and it does seem to attract alot of dirt. It seems I am cleaning track more than running trains.

By the way, How good is Lionel's Thomas. I'd like to buy him and his friends James and Percy to have to run on a Display I am thinking of Doing at church, to get more poeple into trains.

With my trains, and Thomas and his pals, I could appeal to more than just the adults.

steel rails

Thomas is a smooth runner and a good puller. (IMO) His electronic whistle is much better than the one in the 0-6-0 docksider!

If you have pets, note that it is easy for a cat or dog hair to get wrapped up in one of Thomas's center contact rollers and disable it. However this can happen with most any three rail train. Engines (any 3-rail engine), can be very frustrating and eratic, running on just one roller!

I only use the CW-80 for the "around the Christmas tree" loop. Because it's easy, and the built-in protection system makes me feel better near the flammable natural tree. For all it's well-documented faults, the CW-80s safety equipment seems to work well. (Unfortunately, (IMO) the CW is not suitable for a permanent layout because of a design flaw.)

Yes, of course, keep your track clean. 3 minutes with a paper towel and some Windex, Formula 409, or isopropyl alcohol will do wonders. Big' ol' postwar engines powered by ZWs and the like are more forgiving of dirty track.

Thomas is great! I'm looking forward to getting Percy and James!

Good Luck!

[Jumijo]

FYI - Percie's whistle is just aweful. Sounds like the Dockside, or a dying animal. I wonder what James' whistle will sound like . . . got one on order.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

When I was little, James was, and still is my favorite character. I look forward to getting him and 2 or 3 troublesome trucks.

steel rails

[Jumijo]

If I could ask Lionel to make any engine from the Thomas series, it would be Gordon - with a smoke unit. And how about some more "prototypical" freight cars and coaches too?

Jim