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#Post#: 1708--------------------------------------------------
Waking sleeping giants
By: doublefan Date: November 25, 2017, 4:14 pm
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First post here, hello everyone! I have a 675, 2035 and 2020
that were my fathers (among others) Carefully cleaned and oiled
them. They run great, but no smoke. They will consume a pill but
no smoke. Also 2 tenders that will whistle when on the track
alone, but not when being towed. Any thoughts? Most of this has
been packed since the 60s. Lots of ?s. I'll start here. Thank
you for your time, Bob
#Post#: 1709--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: TrainLarry Date: November 25, 2017, 8:50 pm
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You need to take the shell off the chassis and check that the
smoke unit piston is moving up and down freely. You also need to
take the smoke unit apart and check that the air hole in the
smoke chamber is not clogged.
For the tenders, clean the track, wheels and rollers with
naphtha to get any dirt off. Then disassemble the whistle motor
and clean everything with the naphtha. Reassemble, and lightly
oil the armature bearings.
Larry
#Post#: 1710--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: twissmann Date: November 25, 2017, 11:30 pm
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Checking to see if the air hole in the smoke chamber is clogged
is a great idea, but you need to know where that is. It’s
located underneath the chamber. Use a a toothpick to clean out
the airway. The piston that goes up and down is what pushes air
through that little hole which in turn pushes the smoke out of
the smokecstack. Also, do not put in too many pills. This will
not allow the heating element to heat up correctly to the proper
temperature to get it hot enough to generate the smoke needed. I
recommend putting the locomotive on the track, turn the power on
the track enough to cycle the E-unit into neutral, then turn the
E-unit off to stop the humming noise, and then turn the power
all the way up to the maximum. This will then make the heating
element get to a good heating temperature to start producing
smoke and burn off any excess smoke pellets you may have in the
smoke chamber. If you start seeing and smelling smoke, manually
move the locomotive back and forth on the track making sure the
wheels are turning in order for it to move the smoke unit lever,
and then to see if there’s any smoke puffing out. This will be a
good test to see if your smoke piston is working properly to
push the smoke out before you start taking anything apart to
clean. If it starts to puff out smoke, you’re good to go then.
If not, then you will have to take the boiler off and do a
little preventative maintenance on the smoke unit and check to
see if everything is in motion with the smoke unit lever, the
piston moving freely up and down, and check to see if the air
hole is clogged underneath the smoke chamber. Try the simple way
first, then go from there. I usually found that excess smoke
pellets usually needs to be burned off. Lionel built a quality
smoke unit back in the day that’s pretty fool proof, but you
never know. Let us know how you make out.
#Post#: 1763--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: doublefan Date: December 6, 2017, 3:40 pm
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Thanks for the great info. A couple wouldn't even squeak.
Carefully took them down, cleaned and very lightly oiled and
they came to life. Most of this was my fathers and wrapped in
the Chicago Tribune papers dated 1967! As I stated more ?s. Most
don't smoke. Tried running in neutral to heat up (cleaned the
plunger and vent, added a correct spring) We are talking about a
early 2025 and 2035. Stick with pellets or convert to liquid?
I'm in a very rural area so both would have to be ordered. I
have the K-line service manual and have been using Lionel grease
and Lucas gun oil where indicated in the service manual. One
last ?. The 2025 was running very slow and the smoke element was
glowing bright red. I had never seen this before as best I can
remember. I disconnected the heat element and she is now dead in
the water. They run when they don't smoke so why when it is
disconnected would this happen. I'm pretty handy and have been a
part time gunsmith for many years but a lot of this is greek to
me, Sill its fun a what memories! Thank you all again, Bob
#Post#: 1765--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: TrainLarry Date: December 6, 2017, 6:40 pm
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The smoke pellet heating element will work with both pellets and
liquid smoke fluid as long as the element is not clogged with
un-melted smoke pellet material.
There is no reason the smoke element should be glowing red, and
your engine should not be dead with the smoke element
disconnected. Double check the wiring to the e-unit and motor.
Here is a wiring diagram for locomotives to check your wiring
against.
(HTM) http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/locoinfo%5Cloc-e-p1.pdf
(HTM) http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/locoinfo%5Cloc-e-p1.pdf
Larry
#Post#: 1767--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: doublefan Date: December 7, 2017, 3:46 pm
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About 6 months ago I started waking these locomotives. The
2025's E-unit didn't work so I sent it out to have it replaced.
It seems the smoke unit is connected to what the drive motor
should receive and the smoke unit to the drive unit. I think I
will be doing my own work. A great big thank you to all. More ?s
to post
#Post#: 1788--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: 70gtvert Date: December 13, 2017, 9:15 am
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I had the same issue with the tenders, fine when they had all
the juice but not with an engine. Ultimately I replaced the
rectifier disc with a diode and now they work fine while with
the engine. Don't understand how a copper disc wears out, but
they do over time. Just s thought.
#Post#: 1789--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: TrainLarry Date: December 13, 2017, 3:19 pm
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I believe that the heat generated in the rectifier disc
ultimately destroys it. Bad ones are discolored by heat.
Larry
#Post#: 1790--------------------------------------------------
Re: Waking sleeping giants
By: doublefan Date: December 13, 2017, 4:07 pm
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A very special forum, great people. I opened up the 2025 and
checked everything. Looked fine, straitened some wires and runs
like a champ. Installing a new smoke unit and will test. Thank
you, Bob
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