Hi all. I hope someone can help with an electrical problem. I need to know the wiring for a Lionel 254E. I’m pasting a pic of the pendulum control. I’m new to all this and I’m afraid I don’t know the correct terminology. This is my dads train set that he got when he was a boy. Dad is 81 now and seems to talk a lot about his child hood. My grand son is 4 so he’s just about the age my dad was when he got the train as a Christmas present. I though it would be nice to get the old set out and have it running around our Christmas tree for them both to see. Some of the wiring was brittle and cracked so I replaced it. I tagged the wires that I took off but not the ones I left as is. I got it back together and it wouldn’t run (ran before I fixed it) even got a puff of smoke out of it. I took the body back off and I saw a loose wire between the #1&2 terminals . It is one of the original wires that has a solid copper wire in it.
First of all good luck with your 254E. My father and his four brothers recieved one for Christmas in 1929.
Dad was lucky enough to end up with it. It had been run so much the flanges were worn thin and crumbled away. After a set of Bowser replacement wheels I got it running. The reverse unit was so sporadic I simply eliminated it. The train only runs in one direction but it runs every time.
There should be a series circuit from Pickup rollers to the field winding, from field winding to armature and from armature to frame. The pickup roller and frame connections could be reversed and it will still run.The head light wire should be connected to the pickup rollers.
Some of the regulars on the forum may be able to help you better. You may be able to replace the E unit with one of the new electronic ones
Thanks Banks; Sounds like our dads my have got their trains at about the same time. I’m pretty sure my dad will be surprised to see his running around the Christmas tree again. It has been 40+ years since it’s been out of the box. I’m going to try posting pics of my wiring. If it would be possible for you to look at yours and compare the two I would appreciate it.
As a referance point my/dads transformer has 4 posts, two on the left side and two on the right side. The posts are # 1&2(left side), and 3&R (right side). using 1&R=5 1/2-10 1/2 v. 2&R=11 1/2-16 1/2 v. 3&R=17 1/2-22 1/2v. When I took the transformer out of the box the output wires were 2&R. The only constant is the R post. I assume that is the neg terminal and I have that hooked to the center rail.
Bob; I checked out your link. That pendulum switch is similar to mine but not exact. My switch does not have the two headlight terminals on the left hand side. Now to show my lack of knowledge, in the diagram does “Pickup” mean the rollers? Also just what exactly is the “field”?
Does it make a diff which track(s) R (middle or outside) is connected to?
I don’t know whether this is the way your locomotive was wired; but you can connect a headlight to one of the brushes and get directional lighting that way.
Yes, the pickup is the thing that contacts the center rail. The field coil is the coil on the outside of the motor.
Usually the common is connected to the outside rails. But, from your description of your transformer, it seems that it will only be providing track voltage, in which case it doesn’t matter.
Bob and Banks; thanks for your help, the train is running now. I’m sure my grandson will enjoy it as he is to young for playstations. It seems to me that kids now a days don’t have to use their imaginations very much. Every thing is right there in front of them, with 3 million colors and stereo sound cards. I guess I would have done the same thing if PCs’ and playstations were around when I was a kid. Although looking back it was fun rounding up enough guys for a ball game or playing cowboys and native americans (gotta be pc).
I really hope that seeing his train run again will give my dad a few minutes of his childhood back.
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