Question Re: Marx 999 2-4-2 Steamer

[steinmike]

Hi.

A friend brought over a Marx 999 2-4-2 steam engine that he had as a child and asked if I would get it back into operation so he can run it around the Christmas tree this year.  I've repaired older Lionel but Marx is a bit of a mystery to me and could use some advice.

I was able to get the motor and drive train out of the shell.  The bulb for the headlight lights and the reverse unit cycles with a strong click but the engine does not move.  The connections to the motor look good and the wiring appears to be in good shape.  If this were a Lionel engine, my next steps would be to polish the armature face, replace the brushes, and lubricate the gears - are these the right steps to take for a Marx engine?   Are there any pitfalls to look out for (such as jumping brush springs) when I remove the face plate to get to the armature?

If anyone has a schematic for this engine that they can share, that would also be a great help.

Thanks all - have a great holiday season and enjoy your trains!

Mike

[dennyblock]

I just went through an older one myself. If you clean the brushes and armature it will most likely run, the marx stuff is bulletproof. When your cleaning don't forget the brush holders, a spray of carb cleaner or tv tuner cleaner will work [outdoors if married!] If it still doesen't run hit each sodler joint with your iron, I have seen some connections that look good but don't conduct well. The e-unit  is fairly  simple to take apart and clean to, it can have dirty contact points but still click in and out. I have found marx very simple to work on and no nothing should jump out when you take it apart! If you need parts try http://www.trainpartsformarx.com, I have bought much from him very inexpensive and liked everything I got. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[Dave Farquhar]

Mike, on most Marx motors you don't even have to remove that plate to get at the commutator. Just pull the springs away that hold the brushes in place, remove the brushes, and you'll have plenty of access to the commutator so you can clean it.

When lubing the locomotive, follow exactly the same rules as you would for Lionel.

Marxes seem to be more sensitive to dirty drivers than Lionel. I can think of two or three times I've had Marx locos that wouldn't move, but as soon as I cleaned the drivers with some alcohol, they roared to life. So try that first--it's easy and it's something you'll need to do anyway.

The Marx motor is extremely simple and easy to work on, so I'd be very surprised if it took you more than about 30 minutes of fiddling to get that 999 running. It's been said, recently, in the pages of CTT that the only rare Marx loco is the one that doesn't run. That's not much of an exaggeration.

One other thing to check for: I once had a totally dead Marx locomotive that wouldn't run for anything. Then someone suggested I look at the lower brushplate to make sure the screw there was tight. Tight? It was missing! I found a screw that fit, put it in, and it ran immediately. So if you look at the lower side of the brushplate and see a hole that looks like a screw would go in there, that might be your problem.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them here. You might also check out the Yahoo Marx group, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarxTrain -- there are about 700 people there, including some very knowledgeable Marx experts. Usually when someone posts a repair-type question there, someone chimes in with an answer VERY quickly.

[steinmike]

Denny and Dave:

Thanks for the advice!  It worked out fine.

The armature face was almost black (!) so I removed the brush plate and cleaned it up.  Re-assembly was easy.  I cleaned the drivers using alcohol and then treated them with Rail Zip, lubed and greased the engine, put it back together and it ran on the first shot - the two position reverse unit is working just fine, so I guess my neighbor is going to be able to run his trains this year.  I'm going to carefully clean up the track and get him a couple of additional 027 track sections and replacement pins and he should be in business.  One of the track sections has an integral lock-on with two bare pieces of copper wire attached to the clips.  The things we did when we were kids...

I have a contemporary Lionel 2026 and in comparing the two I was impressed with the amount of ccast-in detail that Marx provided on the 999.  The handrails are nicely done.

Thanks for your help!

Mike  

[lionelsoni]

I'll guess that that lock-on is not integral.  Marx made lock-ons with simple tabs that you pressed into the bottoms of the rails.

[Dave Farquhar]

I'm always glad to see a Marxie brought back to life and set free to roam the rails again.

The 999 was a very nice locomotive. The amount of detail was reasonably good, but it wasn't so detailed as to become fragile. And they were extremely affordable, both then and now.

[Kooljock1]

Thanks for that web site Dave. I've bookmarked it for a future restoration still sitting in Mom and Dad's attic!

Jon