Lionel 350E Locomotive and Tender
I recently purchased a Lionel 6-51000 Hiawatha set which I believe was manufactured by Williams around 1988. The set has never been used ( shows no signs of wear on the electrical pick-ups or wheels). The problem with the 350E locomotive is that the electrical motor shows no signs of life. I can hear the solenoid engaging but no motion or sounds from the motor. Is this symptomatic of a train that has been left in the box for 22 years and do you have any suggestions regarding how to resolve this problem. I have opened the unit and the solenoid moves freely and no apparently visual problems. Mechanically everything moves easily.
The second problem is with the whistle unit in the tender. It doesn't generate sufficient rpm to make a whistling sound. I opened up the unit to clean the brushes (rod 2/3rd of length is a constant diameter cylinder and the last 1/3rd is a cylinder of smaller diameter). The smaller diameter end was in contact (for both brushes) with the armature disk which I think is backwards. (I think the smaller end should fit inside the spring which causes the brushes to be in contact with the disk on the armature.) Changing the orientation of the brushes didn't help; in fact it made the problem worse. Here again everything is new.
I'd appreciated any help you can provide regarding these two problems. Also, I would like to get a copy of the instruction booklet for the Lionel 6-51000 train set
Thank you
Bob Weinraub
raweinraub@hotmail.com 703 816 5468.
Please forgive any typos, I am on the AMTRAK to NY and it is very bouncy.
I recently purchased a Lionel 6-51000 Hiawatha set which I believe was manufactured by Williams around 1988. The set has never been used ( shows no signs of wear on the electrical pick-ups or wheels). The problem with the 350E locomotive is that the electrical motor shows no signs of life. I can hear the solenoid engaging but no motion or sounds from the motor. Is this symptomatic of a train that has been left in the box for 22 years and do you have any suggestions regarding how to resolve this problem. I have opened the unit and the solenoid moves freely and no apparently visual problems. Mechanically everything moves easily.
The second problem is with the whistle unit in the tender. It doesn't generate sufficient rpm to make a whistling sound. I opened up the unit to clean the brushes (rod 2/3rd of length is a constant diameter cylinder and the last 1/3rd is a cylinder of smaller diameter). The smaller diameter end was in contact (for both brushes) with the armature disk which I think is backwards. (I think the smaller end should fit inside the spring which causes the brushes to be in contact with the disk on the armature.) Changing the orientation of the brushes didn't help; in fact it made the problem worse. Here again everything is new.
I'd appreciated any help you can provide regarding these two problems. Also, I would like to get a copy of the instruction booklet for the Lionel 6-51000 train set
Thank you
Bob Weinraub
raweinraub@hotmail.com 703 816 5468.
Please forgive any typos, I am on the AMTRAK to NY and it is very bouncy.