Transformer/Track/Train Trouble

General
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1

Hi all, I need some help.

I’m dipping my toe into scale O gauge and am having a lot of issues.

I had a medium sized loop of Fastrack set up in my apartment and added an MTH Railking Pennsylvania K4 and (4) passenger cars. It ran completely fine conventionally.

Whistle, bell, lights, smoke worked great.

I then tried my MTH Proto 1 Empire State Express. It started up fine, speaker, lights and smoke worked great but wouldn’t move. Same size layout.

I added more track, and tried a different engine. A Lionel Lionmaster T1 Duplex. The sound came on from the tender, but no lights or smoke from the engine.

I added more track and upgraded my transformer to a Lionel ZW Multiwatt transformer.

I tested both the Empire State Express as well as the Penney T1 and the same problems continue to persist.

Any help or advice would be amazing. I have all these fantastic trains I want to run but can’t.

Thanks!

2

My guess is that you may have defective locomotives.

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3

They were all labeled operational and “like new” when I bought them.

4

Hmm…
Okay, that reduces the chance of defective trains, though it does not eliminate it. First thing–do you know how old your ZW is?
Second thing–did you clean the track?
Third thing–does the K4 still run properly?

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5

:+1:

6

I’m not a 3-rail expert, but aren’t there a number of posts here about how MTH locomotives put away in “running condition” may irrecoverably lose some of their programming when stored unpowered for some length of time? Would that Lionel engine have potential similar issues?

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7

MTH is fairly well known for that, especially Proto 1 (like what HudsonRiverLineRR has, but I don’t know about Lionel doing that…

Oh, and a fourth recommendation: test just the locomotive on like three pieces of track hooked up to the transformer.

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