My pre-owned Lionel HO GP9 painted for GTW 5511 is not running well, as advertised in the description off eBay. Can anyone shed some light on this problem?
Might as well as why your car doesn’t work. No one can diagnose a model loco by remote control.
Take the shell off, see if any wires are broken. Clean the wheels really good, make sure they are making electrical contact with the rails. Spin the motor by hand to make sure it does turn. Apply power to the motor contacts to see if the motor will operate. Oil the bearings. And so on.
As an add-on to Bob’s post,
While you have the shell off, what does the motor look like?
The fact that it runs points to dirty connections and the most likely is the wheel to rail. Take some Paper towel or Chux wipes and dab it in white spirit/ denatured alcohol and hold it over the rails with the wheels running on it from one truck while the other picks up power. Move the towel to rub the wheels dry. Any gunk come off? Then do the other truck. Any better?
I’ve never actually seen a Lionel loco as such but some simple rules apply to all models world wide and they are outlined here ably by the others. To my knowledge none of us here are Psychics . BTW the definition that some here use as “runs well” is a lot different to my own. I’m still arguing about Bachmann locos here having had very few positive experiences with them. If you are not sure, stick to Athearn and Proto and Atlas stuff. The Athearn stuff IMO is almost bomb proof and most handy hobbyists can fix them for or with you and usually make a good second hand buy even if the motor is suspect…
regards from Australia
Trevor
President Melton Model Railway Club (www.meltonmrc.org.au)
Contributing Editor Hints and Tips in the British www.mremag.com
web Site www.xdford.digitalzones.com where the Hints and tips are in a repository
Simple front truck motor, flywheel driven. Gets power from both trucks, heavy weight in the center. Weight houses a small lightbulb.
I had one of those Lionel HO diesels back in the day. It never ran well even when new. Lionel’s old HO diesel mechanisms were of poor quality, so it may be that no amount of work will make one run well.
A friend of mine had one of them. It had a pancake motor on one truck. We threw the mechanism away and put the shell on an Athearn blue box GP7 chassis.
Thanks for the tips. I took the locomotive to Besser’s Whistlestop in Baldwinsville and the unit runs fine and well, just my transformer, as I expected, was blown out. I’m now setting my sights on a MRC Tech 4 280 dual control unit that will run my original track and my future second main. Once again, thanks for your help.
You know, I’m surprised no one suggested this: as I said on a different post, my power pack blew out. I took the train featured in this post to my hobby shop and the person told me my pack wasn’t big enough. The question now lies, how big? Answer: LIONEL SIZE!!! A Lionel transformer would work perfectly!
The MRC Tech4 280 is a good power pack. I used to use one to control my layouts two independent loops before I went to DCC.
I hope you already understand the difference between a transformer and a power pack, and are using the terms loosely.
HO trains (Marklin being the primary exception, Lionel is not an exception) use permanent magnet motors, and thus require DC to run. Running a permanent magnet motor on AC eventually overheats it, with some buzzing usually accompanying the temperature rise.
HO power packs have a transformer to reduce the voltage from 120V AC to about 14-16V AC. Then a rectifier is used to change the AC to DC, with a small voltage drop in the process. Finally a speed controller that varies the DC voltage output from 0-12 completes the package.
A Lionel transformer is used for 3 rail O and other AC-compatible motors. The universal motors used in O gauge can run on either AC or DC. AC is used as the standard for Lionel O, American Flyer, Marx O, etc. A Lionel transformer does not have the rectifier to produce a variable DC voltage.
Your older Lionel GP9 probably has an open frame permanent magnet motor. These motors often, especially as they age, draw more current than a low end train set power pack can put out. A power pack with more current capability could well run your locomotive better. Also, the variable voltage on a newer MRC power pack is a lot smoother than the control on a train set power pack.
Bottom line: don’t use a Lionel O transformer to power your Lionel HO GP-9. Use the MRC power pack.
PS: If you already knew all this, just ignore.
Fred W