pre-war Lionel parts help

[Anonymous]

Discovered a dusty box in Dad's attic. Inside was the remnants of a Lionel/Ives 1661E locomotive, a few boxcars, and an American Flyer transformer. The main problem is the loco has no wheels. None. I want to get this old locomotive chugging again but I need some help.

I found a parts diagram online which shows a "pilot truck". One online parts list I found has the same part number (1661-23) but calls it a "rear truck", which seems to be kind of the opposite end of the train from what I want. Other parts lists don't have this part at all.

The drive wheels are listed on the diagram as 1661-DW. Online I find 1661-DS "driver set (R)". I also see wheels listed as 1661-23SP, "rear truck ,spoke wheel". I can't find any mention of the main rod.

Sorry to be so ignorant of these things, but can someone tell me what a truck is in this context? Is a rear tuck also a pilot truck? I also read some reference to a drive truck. Is this the main drive (motor, drive wheels)?

And if you will permit me 1 more topic, I connected the transformer to the pick-up shoe and the sheet metal around the motor. The armature turns a few degrees but that is it (except for that wonderful smell that brought me back 30 years instantly). The armature and the intermediate gear spin freely by hand so I know it isn't a mechanical bind. How do I test the motor by itself? In other words, can I bypass that thing with all the rotating contacts and the main switch and the scary coils of copper and see if the motor is OK? Or are the motor and this control unit an integral set that must work together? I think there must be a way to check the armature and stator, it looks like a fairly simple motor. Then again, I have no idea how this alternating current works...

TIA,
D

[Dave Farquhar]

D, since the motor shows some signs of life it sounds like the motor is OK and just needs a good lube, or, more likely, a cleaning and a lube. Everyone has their favorites; about the only thing that matters is that you *don't* blast the poor thing with a bunch of WD-40.

I'd put a bit of light oil on any axles you can get your hands on, and some light grease on the gears, spin it by hand a couple of times, then try applying power again.

As far as your other questions, since I'm not familiar with this particular loco (and I don't have a picture of it handy), it's possible that the pilot and rear trucks are the same part, especially since this wasn't an expensive locomotive when it was new.

As far as replacement parts, the only dealer I've dealt with is Model Engineering Works (870-887-6009) but my local train store swears by them, and when I met the two guys who own it at a train show a couple of months back, they were incredibly helpful.

[1688torpedo]

Hello d-train! Olsen's Toy Train Parts has what you need for parts and manuels to get your 1661 up and running! Just type in Olsen's on your address bar and their website will come up on your computer. They have repro wheels and rods for your engine.Good luck to you....Keith

[lionelsoni]

I'm guessing that "that thing with all the rotating contacts and the main switch and the scary coils of copper" is what we call the e-unit, or reversing unit. If so, you can bypass it. Just rewire the motor armature (the brushes) in series with the field winding.

If you're lucky, your motor commutator is just dirty. However, you may have some armature windings open. If you can get the brushplate off, you can probe the commutator to see whether the windings are okay. There are probably three segments on the commutator. You should see the same resistance between any of the three possible pairs of segments.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help everyone. I have taken everything apart and cleaned & oiled & greased. The commutator and brushes are clean, I have continuity on each of the 3 windings and the resistance is a match according to my meter. I will try and bypass the e-unit and see what happens. If the motor does work without the e-unit, is the e-unit something that can be fixed or is it a throw away?

[lionelsoni]

It's tricky; but I have never found one I can't fix.

[Anonymous]

Finally had some time and found the motor doesn't spin. From the previous posts I detached the e-unit and ran power into one brush and attached the other bru***o the field winding then put my other power lead at the other end of the field winding. So my circuit is: power from transformer in to one brush, through the armature winding to the other brush, bru***o stator (field?) winding, through the stator winding, back to my transformer.

When I power it up it hums and occasionally turns a few degrees, but that is it. I turned the armature by hand to several different locations hoping a better starting point might help, but no luck.

Is my basic circuit correct? Or should the armature & stator be in parallel? The armature windings have continuity and give me the same resistance, and the stator winding has continuity. The gears and axles are clean and lubed it it spins freely by hand so it isn't a mechanical problem.