Lionel 262E

Hi,

I just acquired the Lionel 262 E from my father whom he acquired it from his father in the 1930's Anyway, the locomotive does not run. I had put the engine on my new lionel fasttrack with the 40w transformer and nothing. only thing that works is the light. I took the shell off and OH MAN, what a mess! It seems that the motor is getting power ( I can feel and hear some humming coming from it) and the pick up wheels are touching the third rail. Now further investigating into this mess of wires and found one wire disconnected and I have no idea where it goes. Is there any web site that I can get the wire schematics from? My plan was to get these trains running and give them back to my dad for christmas. Please help! Thanks!!

There may be a variety of books available on Ebay or Amazon about prewar repair.....ask the seller if it has info on the 262 model....just in time for Christmas 2010!

I have a 254E. I found that a quick squirt of WD-40 loosened up the works considerably using the straw in the motor and E-Unit. The "disconnected wire" is probably the leading culprit in motor failure with O-Scale. (It's also the source of many an outrageous minimum repair charge by dealers making a two-second soldering job.) If you have a dangling wire, look at the works carefully - even with a magnifying glass. You can usually find a small spot of solder that doesn't have a wire on it where one had been before it broke off. As a test, merely apply the wire with an uninsulated end to this spot by hand, at the same time having the unit on track with a little juice. See if she moves. Usually, by making a new stripped wire end, throwing just a little flux onto it, then placing your soldering gun to the wire end and terminal, you're off and running. (I maintain that Lionel built the most durable product in American history.) Back up your plan first by picking up a Greenberg's Lionel Repair Manual for Pre-War Trains. Good luck !