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#Post#: 2014--------------------------------------------------
385e balky, not sure where to start
By: RITrain Date: November 17, 2018, 10:51 pm
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Hi All,
I have a hand-me-down standard gauge set I am trying to
resurrect. I hooked the 385e loco to a 15VAC Lionel
#1033 transformer and it spun the wheels a little, but just
reverted to humming and buzzing. Of course I only tried for a
couple seconds at a time. I had replaced one wheel and
lubricated all the shafts with light oil, and I think it spins
free enough but dont have the experience to know.
Any advice appreciated, I'd like to have this sorted out by
Christmas...
Thank You
#Post#: 2015--------------------------------------------------
Re: 385e balky, not sure where to start
By: djacobsen Date: November 18, 2018, 9:23 am
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RITrain
Hello & Welcome to the Forum!
Sorry to hear your locomotive is running poorly.
My suggestion is to clean your wheels, pickups and track,
sounds to me like its not getting enough power.
l am not sure if that 1033 you tried has enough voltage/amps
for the 385e.
Hopefully some of our technicians/forum members will chime in...
Happy Rails!
dave
#Post#: 2016--------------------------------------------------
Re: 385e balky, not sure where to start
By: TrainLarry Date: November 18, 2018, 11:08 am
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Welcome to the forum!
First, clean the wheels, roller pickups and track with Naphtha
as has been written above.
Now you have to do some regular maintenance to the loco which
requires you to disassemble it.
You will need to take the loco completely apart to get the
boiler shell off to get at the motor.
Once that is done, remove the brushplate to expose the armature
and the copper commutator. Don't lose the small brushes that fit
in the brushplate tubes. If the brushes are very worn, they may
need to be replaced.
Get some Q-Tips, dip them in Naphtha, and clean Everything-
brushes, brushplate and commutator. When done, reassemble the
motor.
The next item to tackle is the E-unit. Apply power to the loco,
and watch the E-unit to see if it cycles properly. Look at the 2
sets of copper contacts to see if they are in good shape and
making contact with the drum. To service the E-unit properly you
need a special tool to take it apart and lots of patience.
Inspect the drum and contacts and replace any bad parts. Using
Q-Tips and Naphtha, gently clean the contacts and drum, then
reassemble the E-unit. This is where the patience come in,
getting all the parts aligned and snapping the E-unit back
together.
Next, lightly oil all wheel bearings and both ends of the motor
armature, and lightly grease the gears.
After this is all done, your engine should operate and run like
new.
Larry
#Post#: 2017--------------------------------------------------
Re: 385e balky, not sure where to start
By: RITrain Date: November 18, 2018, 7:04 pm
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Thanks for the advice, some of that I did 3 years ago but not
that thoroughly, now I will. I found an old video i made back
then and discovered that the e-unit was the issue, and I jogged
it and now the train runs. :)
#Post#: 2018--------------------------------------------------
Re: 385e balky, not sure where to start
By: TrainLarry Date: November 19, 2018, 10:26 am
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Good to hear.
Regular maintenance will keep your trains running in tip-top
shape.
Larry
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