lionel 4-4-2 109 dollar engine lock up in reverse or neutral

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

my new engine after about 20 minutes ran slow and then locked in reverse, i returned to store, new one slowed down then stuck in neutral. lionel set pack putting out 14 volts at average speed on track. using lionel track. i am going to return this one too i guess. whats up with these? poor quality for this price?

2

Cant imagine what the problem could be. The 4-4-2 is like the Eveready bunny - it runs on and on and on. Maybe some other guys on the forum have an idea???

3

Cheap labor will get you in the quality every time and seems to run in batches lately. I have two 4-4-2 and never had a problem with them was thinking about getting the PRR flyer set but with everyones quality problems both MTH and Lionel I am afraid I will get the lemon The fact that it slows down is a problem in its self. but locking is a second problem I would return the set and e-mail lionel about your two for two failures.

4

What model transformer? Jon

5

Is this a cw80 symtum?

6

I have one of these starter set atlantics that does the same thing. Mine will be ten years old this Christmas. It ran fine until I coupled about 12 cars to it and ran the snot out of it one day. Even though it got pretty warm, it just kept on running and then BOOM! - it just stopped and sat there in neutral. Now every time I run it, it will run fine for a few minutes and just stop. The thing is, it only does this when I’m using one of these modern transformers that produces a “chopped” sine wave. If I run it with my 50-year-old Lionel 1033, it just runs and runs. This is a perfect example of why I hate these modern transformers (don’t even get me started on THAT subject). I have a feeling that if I had been using the 1033 the day that I had all of those cars coupled to it, that little loco would still be fine. Oh well - live and learn, I guess. [:(]

Regards,
Clint

7

this is the lionel cw-80. i guess there are some issues with these??

8

Do you have a differnt transformer you can try? maybe the hobbyshope you got it from will let you test it with a differnt transformer, and yes there where some problems with the cw80 in early batches again bad design and cheap labor strikes again.