We had a Big Boy brought back Saturday that was having chuff problems, eratic or none, and surging in forward. Called Lionel today for return authorization, Wed. is tech. contact day at Lionel, and was offered a fix to try before returning. Seems that the problem has occured before. The solution(s) was to check the flywheel for dirt, we found it was loose, neither allen screw was seated and tight and to check that the pin connectors for the royal blue wire were tight. We tightened all connectors. Tested it and it ran like a charm.
Hope this can save someone shipping back to Lionel.