Well, I cobbled together some of the old track from my fathers old trainset (now mine I guess), and I couldn’t maker a full loop, so it made testing quite a chore. This is my first train, and my first attempt to get it to run. I had to just wrap bare wire around the tracks since Ididnt have a lock-on, and the tracks are 50 years old, never been cleaned, so I’m sure neither of those things helped me any.
BUT, I got the loco running forwards and backwards. I wasnt sure what to do with the switch on top of the loco, but noticed when I turned up the throttle, it would run one direction. Then when I turned it down to off, and back on, it would make a switching noise and not move; then off to on again and it would run the opposite direction…almost did it every time. Does that make sense?The direction button on the transformer feels sort of sticky…think its stuck? Or maybe the switch needs to be tuned on the loco when its is going the direction I want to lock it out?
Also, attached the tender…no whistle. Called my father, he thinks it stopped working way back when. Hmm.
With the 40% coupon from Hobby Lobby, I could buy the Penn Flyer set for 120 bucks. I could use the fasttrack from the set and the new transformer…plus Id have the extra train/cars/accesories it comes with…not bad considering I would probably drop over 50 or 60 on track alone since I want to replace the old track anyways.
Comments/tips? And man, my posts are getting longer and longer…sorry!Being a newbie stinks, but it is fun!!
Thanks
It sure is fun to get something running. And it’s fun to fiddle with these to get them to work better. And it sure is fun to get a new trainset too - and that’s a good price. The reverse unit on some of my trolleys works like this - turn up power, trolley goes forward. Turn off power and turn it back on (or push reverse button on transformer), trolley is in neutral (with lights on). Do it again and trolley goes in reverse. When I use the switch atop my 520 boxcab, it allows the engine either to do the above or ‘locks’ it going forward.
You’re not using that transformer with the cracked and frayed power cord, are you? I’d recommend against it - you might get zapped since that goes your house power.
Your discription is acurate. The Eunit should cycle from nuteral to reverse to nutral to foward. It is trigred by cuts in the power, hence, the direction button does nothing more than momentarily cut power. The switch on top will lock the train in a given direction. Say the engine is in foward and you turn the switch, it will not cycle into a diferent direction and remain in foward no matter if you press the direction button. Goodfeature if you are latching up different engines or have dirty track that will cause momentary power loss. Also if your track is uneven the cowcatcher will momentarily hit the center rail causing a momentary short that if not locked out can throw the eunit into neutral. The lockout switch also has benifits to be aplied to ruinning two trains simultaniously.
Hmm…so, the loco is supposed to run that way! Interesting. And the power cord wasn’t the frayed and cracked cord…it was the cord that goes to the unload/uncouple switchbox that was frayed, so I left it off the track set up.
The power cord is soft and in nice shape. To hook up the transformer to the track, I used some power wire from the screw type posts on the rear of the transformer, and wrapped it around the appropriate rail. It was ugly…lol. I need to get a full track set up so its easier to run…
1.) The recifier in the transformer is shot. Not a do it yourself for beginers job
More likely
2.) A loose wire in the tender. Open it up and clean and lube the motor. Check for frayed and broken wires.
3.) The relay in the tender is shot (not very likely). The relay is the piece held in by a metal bracket. On the bottom there is a piece that should “click” up when the whistle botton is pressed. See if it doing this. If it is it is possible that it is not making good contact. Bend it up with a pair of needlenose plyers.
if you push the switch on top of the engine to one side it lets the engine cycle persay as you turn power off to it if you turn it the other way it will locck it in fwd or nuetral or reverse all depending which mode its in when you do it.
Everything you described is perfectly normal; hum of the transformer, resistance on the tranformer handle, forward-nutral-reverse. Quite honestly, you’re set looks to be in EXCELENT condition and looks like it was hardly used! The light on the transformer is probably not burnt out as you think. Most transformers have a circuit breaker in them in case of a short. When the electricity is shorted, caused by a derailment or anything else connecting the positive and ground directly together, the light will light up red alerting you to the problem.
I’m guessing the wires on the tender have come loose from the power pickups. Check to see if they are connected. If not, just solder them back on. I had to do this on my Penn. tender when my dad gave me his.
I personally would keep the track. It’s worth keeping since you have the rest of the set. As for getting a Penn. flyer from Hobby Lobby, you just can’t beat that 40% off coupon! I don’t like that set because it’s such a realatively cheap engine but that’s just my personal opinion. If you like it, buy it! I’d suggest trying to find a good deal on a Polar Express set or something similar with a nicer engine. You could also find the transformers cheap on ebay and pick up Fastrack from Hobby Lobby with the coupon. (You can use one each day. Unless there are multiple stores and you have time, then use one coupon at each store each day. Of course that’s a lot of running around just for track.)
You don’t really need to move the switch handle to lock the e-unit while the locomotive is running. (That would work, but wouldn’t be easy with a moving train!). You can go ahead and stop it, then change the switch. The e-unit (the reversing unit) changes state every time you turn the voltage on; so the state that you lock it into after stopping is whatever it was doing the last time the voltage was on.
To anticipate a question that always seems to come up, yes, it is normal for the e-unit to buzz. Some are noisier than others.
There is no such thing as too many questions or too long of posts. Fire away! I would go ahead with the cheap Hobby Lobby set. You get a great loop of track, working transformer plus cars and an extra engine. All the extra parts makes it easy to identify a problem with any of your existing gear just by switching out components.
ie. Will the old transformer make the new engine whistle blow, or with the new transformer make the old whistle blow…etc.
Plus you should get a set of operating instructions. The current “cheap” sets work very similar to the old sets.
Try to get to a local club and ask someone for help lubing and or cleaning your old engine.
I wonder if the whistle isn’t working because you have the wires reversed going to the tracks. Try switching them at the transformer posts and see if that helps. An old air whistle, especially one that hasn’t been used in decades, sometimes needs some higher voltages to operate, because they have no lubrication on them. Take the loco off the track, crank the power way up and try the whistle.
Do the lights on your engine get brighter when you hit the whistle button, but no whistle? As noted above, this may a rectifier in the transformer, or it may be as easy as some contact cleaner on the whistle button contacts in the transformer.
I recommend a fresh set of tracks and transformer, and you can work your way into repairing engines and transformers, if so inclined.
Reverseing the wires to the track only needs to be tried if it is a sound board. the whistle relay of old doesn’t care which way the wires are connected.