Lionel Recent Questions, Troubleshooting Help & Support

I have used 18ga lamp wire but you can use wire as thin as telephone wire. My rule of thumb is to use thicker wire (lower gauge number) the more motors on the train you are running. 20 or 22ga is generally used by most.

It's not that easy to change the cable that raises and lowers the roof. Make sure you have it raise equally on all 4 corners or else you may end up breaking another cable or it may rise uneven or not even get high enough.

Yes it can be fixed. Does the transmitter work? I am asking if other cars and the locomotive respond to the transmitter ECU-1. The dump car is a little different from the other cars as you need to hold the button down for several seconds to get it to dump momentatrily to uncouple. There is a thermostatic time delay as part of this car's receiver.<br /> Look it up in the old Lionel Service manual (original or Greenberg reprint) or the Greenberg operating guide (small thick hardbound book)<br /> <br /> Ed

Magnet is connected to one3 terminal on the rotating base of the crane and 2 the connector that presses onto the top of the spool that the line for the hook attaches to. Note when the magnet is activated, the red light in the crane cab lights up.

The green light on the right side is a power light, and is on whenever there is AC power connected to the cord. The red light on the left is a short circuit indicator, and comes on when the center rail is grounded to the outside rail by any number of reasons, usually a derailed car, or wiring problem. Check photos on ebay to see what the red and green lenses look like of they are missing. There is a 40-50 year old circuit breaker that should pop during a short circuit, if the breaker is still working properly. If you want to test it, just lay a screwdriver between the center and outside rails until the left light comes on, but don't let it go too long, it could get hot and cause a fire. If it does not pop, you need to get it serviced.

Each side of the 450 signal bridge has 3 connections....one common to both one lights green light the other the red You need to connect the red and green wires to a 153C contactor the pressure switch that changes the light colors as the train passes. The side of the 153C that has 2 terminals is for the red and green bulb wires. The single terminal and the third terminal on the 450 get connected to 12V fixed voltage. Repeat the process for the second track and contactor. This is the simple mode of wiring a signal bridge or any of the single change the color signals...153,163,353 and 452 single signal; bridge.

It sounds like the counterbalance spring is loose or disconnected. I would rather add weight to the counterweight box to take some load off of the motor...Use fishing sinkers, one or two rolls of pennies or equivalent. Also do not overtighten the spring you will warp the base of the bridge.

Many toy train part suppliers have the replacement belt. It does require some dismantling to replace the belt. Tip wrap a layer of package tape where the belt runs not over the lower pulley but along the path of the belt, it helps prevent coal bits from jamming in there. Once you have replaced the belt and have reassembled the unit NEVER use anything other than Lionel 206 Coal or its latest incarnation. Other materials are either too heavy or too fine and will jam the mechanism.

There are 5 terminals on the bridge number them from outside to inside 1,2,3,4,5 Terminal 1 gets connected to the outside rails on a V,Z,VW,orZW transformer terminal U. The control button a #96 push button gets connected between terminals 2 and 3. Terminal 3 also gets a wire from A or B on a V or Z or Bor C on a VW/ZW. Terminal 4 gets connected to the transformer terminal D. Terminal 5 gets a wire to the lockon on the black bridge frame. The bridge needs 3 sections of track on each end seperated from the rest of the track as a stopping section remove the center rail pin on this section, This forms the stopping sections at each end of the bridge.

Mania Trains in NJ has repro stamps for Pre-War trains...may have stamps for the boxes as well. Many of the stamps came from Jerry Butler....Excellent products Olsen's trains in Ohio may be a second source

The lockon is for tubular O or O-27 track. Slide the large part of the clip over the bottom flange of one outer rail....straight track works best and snap the cmaller clip onto the center rail. the two small terminals are your wire connections.

Is the track properly and carefully put together? Is one or more sections damaged take one of the cars and gently push it around watching in those places where the train derails. If it only happens at a track joint look at it more carefully.

Recent Lionel transformers are notorious for their issues. Put an old fashioned reverse switch into the circuit, an old Lionel 88 will do the wire to terminal 1 of the lockon or the wire tothe center rail needs to be cut and attached to the 2 terminals of the 88 reverse switch. Note this is ancient technology from the 30s to 50s

It should not be too difficult to replace the entire rod assembly including the valve rod eccentric rod and eccentric crank. THe crankpin in the drive wheel holds the eccentric crank to the wheel at the top there should be another screw freeing the valve rod and crank in one piece. two screws and 10 minutes you should be done. I am basing this on other Lionel locomotives including the Southern Crescent 8702, 736 and 1656

http://www.manualsonline.com/ https://www.manualslib.com/

There is bad contact in the track connections. You can sand the track connection sites. Another method is to run another power wire to the other end of the track where the train slows down. Even better is 3 or 4 evenly spaced power wires from the transformer to the track.

try reversing your wires from the transformer to the track.

From a top view there is a dot near a pin. That pin is #1 and numbering proceeds counterclockwise from 1 to 8. Pin 1 is the ground. You can see the article on Wikipedia for other info, if needed

Extend 2 wires one black {Neg} one red {Positive} connect to two wires at tender.

change the timer settings.