I have a postwar Lionel #1615 0-4-0 switcher. The engine runs by itself only when pushed by hand in the same direction. Nothing in the engine is wrong and the E-unit barrow looks good besides one repaired ratchet tooth. I have not checked the arms which connect to the barrow. Any ideas what it could be?
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Are the connections between the E-unit fingers and the motor intact and undamaged? Are the fingers making strong contact with the E-unit drum?
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The 1615 will not run well by itself, it needs the tender it came with.
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I noticed the copper connections with the hook to the tender, but I do not know why it matters with the tender, there is no electronics in it. (unless its not the matching tender which could be a big possibility since I bought it used).
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I looked at the E-unit. Every finger looks to be in the correct place, but one does not have a wire connection through it. I am not very familiar with E-units so I do not know if that is normal or not. The wire missing is the inner-left finger when viewed with the whole assembly with all four visible and the barrow on top.
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The point is to increase the effective wheelbase of the locomotive for electrical pickup from the track, or more precisely more points of contact with the ground/return outside rails (see following post).
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There are no electronics in the loco either, it’s purely electro-mechanical.
The 4 wheel switcher needs more paths to ground to operate correctly, the 1615 has the copper/bronze spring strapping on the drawbar to accomplish this through the 4 axles and 8 wheels of the 1615T.
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