Hi, I have a couple of old O guage from the 70’s Engines. They work on regular track, but they wont work on Fastrack. Why is this happening??
Thanx,
CS
Can you be more specific as to the problems.
Jason
Could you explain a little more? Like which loco’s and what do you mean that they won’t work? The wheel flanges are too deep? They can’t handle the turns?
Make sure the track is clean, even dust build up won’t let the engine run smoothly.
laz57
Hey, The engine will will on standard O 27 gauge. Works fine
When I place it on the fastrack,… The light does work, The engine purrs and the wheels rattle, hesitates and goes no where, Its like it rattles.
When I lift it a little it sparks
The no is 8902, I know its a cheap engine, im concerned if I buy othe engines maybe they wont work as well.
I did just try to clean it.
Thanx
CS
are you using the same transformer on both tracks if not heres your problem that engine is a DC engine and it won’t work with the transformer that came with the fast track. most likely you got a set with fastrack and it had a C-80 transformer and your other engine has a dc transformer. If you put the engine that you got with the fast track it won’t work on the O-27 and you might even burn it up.
Coldstorage, RT has it right… it’s not the track at all.
While nearly all current and recent production train engines come with DC can motors, they also have a circuit board which will allow the locos to run on either AC or DC current. Some of the lesser expensive starter Lionel locos came without the circuit board reverse unit, and thus run only on DC current. Meaning you need a DC power pack to run this loco.
I actually like and have several of these cheaper engines which I revamp and repaint. When I’m done with them, they look better than most could imagine and pull like champs. But I run my whole layout on DC current, so those locos are not an issue for me.
Trying to run this DC loco on AC current from a transformer could rather quickly burn the motor out and then it won’t work at all even on DC current.
My wife’s cousin just bought an older, red plastic shelled 0-4-0 Lionel Docksider that he said just buzzed on the track. Is it one of the DC only locos?
Jim
So, the new transformers are Ac while the old ones are DC , does this sound right?
New engines have a component to go on both.
Thanx Men, You guys are so smart.
CS
Yes, Jim that is most likely the Rock Island dockside. You’ve read that I’ve mentioned this loco many times as my “nephew” has one that I revamped and modified for him. Beleive it or not, after my modifications we had that little guy pull a 25 car train. Even I was amazed, though I advised the boy to keep the train lenghts to about half that, which the loco does fine with.
Coldstorage, the vast majority of Lionel transformers are all AC. A general key is a transformer puts out AC current, and a power pack puts out DC current. During the MPC period of Lionel, starting in the mid-1970’s, Lionel put out some low cost starter sets tha utilized a DC can motor instead of the then-typical open frame Pullmor AC motor. These low cost sets came with a DC power pack similar to the ones that came with Life-Like and Tyco HO sets.
There are a couple paths you can take to run this loco: You can put a minature full wave bridge rectifier in the loco, which will allow it to run on AC transfomer current, but ONLY in ONE direction. You could also put one of the small circuit board reverse units in it (you’d have to cram it in there, and put some insulation on the sheet metal frame where you put the board). Or you can get (or make yourself) a Lionel Conversion Box, which Lionel made in the late 1980’s - early 1990’s for running DC current G-scale trains with a normal Lionel transformer. You can find these on eBay by searching for “Lionel DC.”
I made my own box using a Radio Shack full-wave bridge rectifier, a DPDT switch, a plastic box with bvent holes in it and several screws with nuts for wire attachments.
You could also get yourself one of those small HO power packs. They’re normall seldom more than a few bucks at train shows. But they won’t have enough back up reserve power to run much more than the loco and maybe one lighted car. You can run more cars, just not illuminated or operating ones… the small HO power packs don’t have enough ampera
It does sound like you may have one of the DC ONLY engines that were made by Lionel during most of the MPC era.
However, if you have Fastrack hooked to a DC transformer, your DC engines will work fine.
For my Christmas Tree layout I use 2 of my DC engines, 8001, and 8007, and this year I used Fastrack and a Tyco transformer.
Your lucky in fact that these engines did not run, for if you run a DC only engine on AC power the engine will fry in a matter of seconds. I saw that first hand when my Lionel AC/DC converter failed, and my 8008 stopped dead in it’s tracks.
Ken
Thanks, Brian. The loco is indeed Rock Island livery.
Jim
While Brian is a great proponent of running “O” Gauge trains in a D.C. environment, I would just point out that D.C. can ruin RailSounds and TMCC electronics.
My suggestion for guys inheriting Lionel’s DC-only production like the Rock Island switcher or perhaps the James Gand set would be to up-grade the locos to TMCC with the Electric Rail Road Company’s “Commander” series of products. They’ve got one that’ll fit in a “Beep”, and another that can fit in the 0-6-0T, so chances are pretty good they’ll have something that can fit in the General’s tender or the cab of the 0-4-0.
I’ve done installs of Jon’s kits, and the design, operation, and customer support are second to none.
Jon [8D]
A less expensive way to go is to install a bridge rectifier in the locomotive between where the power comes in and the motor, must have both wires going to & out of the bridge rectifier. The bridge rectifier will smooth out the AC to use in a DC envirement, also you won’t have direction control.
Also Lionel did not sell that many DC powered locomotives, but you may come across one at times.
Lee F.
I’ll pass along this advice to my wife’s cousin, Lee. He has a DC powered Rock Island Dockside switcher. He’ll hand the loco to me and ask me to install the rectifier.
Jim
Lionel will sell you all the parts to install a basic electronic e-unit in one of these DC only engines.
The parts run a little under $20, or at least they did the last time I checked.
Must be I write tooooo much - but I did cover Lee’s and Ben’s advice in what I said above.
While it might be cheaper to install the bridge rectifier in the loco as Lee mentioned again, I will note that the operator will probably quickly tire of a loco that only runs in one direction. Getting a small used HO power pack is really probably the cheapest thing to do for versatility.
And the Lionel e-unit circuit boards are not that expensive. It’s just that in these small locos it will take some cobbing to get the circuit board to fit… it can’t touch the sheet metal frame or you’ll short the board. When Lionel re-issued the 2-4-0 steamer around 1994-6, they put the e-unit board in the tender, with a tether wire. There are very small after market boards made, as mentioned above - but now you run into extra costs. BUT if you got a bargain on the loco, it could be worth it.
“While Brian is a great proponent of running “O” Gauge trains in a D.C. environment, I would just point out that D.C. can ruin RailSounds and TMCC electronics.”
KoolJock, you are absolutely right!! But I’ve always made the case for DC operation if you are a budget buyer who runs the DC can motored only locos without any command or on-track sounds. You do get better speed control on the cheaper locos with DC power and less loco growling noise on the dual motored units.
Although what I am really a great proponent of is having fun in the hobby without breaking the bank. You do not need all the latest electronic features to enjoy the hobby. And a lot of the cheaper locos can easily be visually improved and mechanically enhanced to be better.
Given the failure rates of the high end electronically ladden locos, I’d say I could really be on to the right idea. Funny that I’m not married… I bet a lot of women would like to hear “honey, I just spent $20 on a new train loco” over "honey, I just spent a grand o
Brian,
I can’t argue with your logic. I just shiver at the thought of a guy reaching for the Power Pack when he should’ve reached for the Transformer and blowing some boards.
While we all read horror stories on these boards on a regular basis, oddly enough the only circuit board I’ve blown since the move to electronics was in the tender shack of my #313 Bascule Bridge from 1997. Yes, cost is a factor, but like you I skew to the traditional sized trains, so it really keeps costs in check!
I look at the $800 price of a scale Mikado in the current catalog, and the price of a scale caboose, and the prices of the scale rolling stock…
THEN I look at the price of a Lionel “Baby Mikado”, a Post War or MPC caboose, and an incredible variety of traditional rolling stock that all looks good with this engine…
THEN I factor in that I can run it all on ANY curve radius I want.
For the savings, I can have TMCC, RailSounds 5.0, AND up-grade the engine to cruise from ERRCo! And you know what? Traditional sized engines and cars look just as good together as scale engines and cars!
Jon [8D]
Brian,
I did read what you wrote. All you mentioned was the option of installing an e-unit.
The intent of my post was to mention a specific source and an aproximate cost for doing so.
I appologize for the misunderstanding in that regard-I was only trying to supplement, not repeat, your information.
In any case, I’m not familiar with that specific engine. I can add, however, that I have, from my early youth, a Lionel Crayola set engine, which is basically the same as Lionel’s LASER set engine. As I’m sure you know, this is quite a tiny engine, yet my Crayola version(unlike the LASER version) has a circuit board reverse. It’s mounted by self-adhesive foam within the long hood.
And all this time I thought EHarmony was a social network. Then I read this forum and find out it’s about trains. No wonder all those girls give me funny looks when I ask them how their e-units are working or whether they are ac/dc.
Jack