New to trains..243w whistle tender stuck.

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Hello all,

Im new to the train world and am already experiencing some problems. Ive started a model train set for my 2 children and am trying to get everything up and running before christmas. I purchased a 243w lionel tender off ebay and as soon as I got it home I noticed one of the trucks was very loose and the axle wasnt being held tight and would constantly fall out. I also noticed the whistle sounded very faint and sounded more like a grinding sound than anything else.

I ended up spending a few hours today fixing the truck which I did via purchasing some screws and nuts and drilling out the rivet and picking up a new truck. I took apart the whistle unit and cleaned the springs/brushes and everything looked pretty good. Upon some point of the disassembly I ended up breaking off a wire from a soldered point and cant figure out where it went. Its the wire that comes out of the wound copper next to the whistle mechanism. I thought it belonged back on top of the relay. My problem is now when I put the train on tracks the whistle does not stop and sounds very intense. At 1/4 throttle and without pushing the whistle button down it sounds like it is spinning extremely fast.

Ive attached some pics. Something is obviously wrong. Maybe my wiring?

Thanks for any help and apologies if this is in the wrong spot.

2

Here is the wiring diagram for whistles and their relays.

The one coil wire goes to ground (connected to the moveable relay contact), and the other gets connected directly to power.

Larry

3

To me it looks like the wire from the motor’s ield to the relay contact was moved between the first and last picture. In the last picture, it looks like it might be touching the metal whistle relay frame. That would make the whistle blow all the time.
By the way, the contact to which that wire is attached is a bit crooked. That contact and the moveable contact underneath should not be touching when the whistle isn’t being blown. Are they touching?

4

Thank you for the replies.

According to the wiring diagram it looks like my wiring is correct, however the wire that goes from top of the post on the relay and then travels into the wound copper wire via a hole in the side near the rotating whistle mechanism broke off. Is there anyway to open that so i can resolder it inside? I notice when I move the wire by hand when it makes contact inside is when whistle activates.

5

Im going to try and get a youtube video up this evening.