All of a sudden. My mallet is locking up. Will just be steaming along fine, the randomly the drive just locks up. Decoder, sounds, and lights continue, just no
Motion. I have to remove it from the track and the she'll start again.
Anyone have this before? I never remove my locos from the track so there's no way it has been damaged by hand. Last lube was last year, maybe 5 hours of operation. I have checked the rods, they don't appear to be binding. I have checked the plugs under the cab. Tomorrow I'll remove and reseat the decoder
Hi Chris
When you say its'locking up' do you mean that the loco just stops with the sound still working OR when it 'locks up' are the driving wheels actually locking?
A way of finding out is when the fault occurs cut the power and then remove the loco from the track, then carefully place it on its side and gently try to move the driving wheels VERY slightly, they should have a small amount of 'play' in them, If either set doesnt have any play then it could be that the valve gear ( the rods) may need checking.
I have had 0n30 locos which have done what you describe, and the fault was traced to the valve gear needing to be correctly re-positioned, it is always worth checking that the retaining screw on the connecting rod & valve gear has not become loose.
The fact that the sound continues to work fine, indicates that the decoder is probaly not the cause but its always worth cheking in the tender to make sure. Hope this helps.