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50 Year Old Lionel Diesel Locomotives
Bob has a question for anyone who can help him with his old Lionel locomotives:
“I just dug out my Lionels from the garage after 50 (that’s right, 50) years. I hooked up my ZW to a circle of old O27 track to test out my GP-7 diesel. I got nothing.
The green power light went on but no juice seemed to hit the rails. The red circuit breaker light not indicate a short. I switched the hook-up wire from the U-D posts to the U-A and got a small spark from the loco’s left front wheels but nothing else. I don’t have a voltage meter to check to see if the ZW is providing any power.
Admittedly the track may not be conducting well after all these years, but I thought I should get some kind of response from the engine which had always performed so flawlessly when I was a kid. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can determine if the issue is the transformer or the GP-7?”
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A good clean and lube would be the best place to start and eliminate possible issues…congealed lubricants, corrosion, stray long departed animal parts, etc…
I know i’m late responding, but I was busy restoring my 48 year old American Flyer. It needed basic dimanteling & complete cleaning. Electric contact cleaner on transformer parts, engine contact points, fine emery paper where needed (wheels especially), and a good track cleaning after soaking the rust off in vinegar solution. The gears were “rock solid frozen”. I shot a lot of cleaner into the area several times & watched the blackish goo flow out of the affected areas. A little light lubricant, reassembly & it’s working like a charm, just like it did so many years ago.
Hope it works for you.