First off, I love my Hogwarts set and have run it many hours without problems until tonight.....hmmm...Halloween.....spooky, ain't it? Anyways, I lose track power and the system shows a short and I find the rear coupler had come undone from the tender. No problem as I find the screw the holds the coupler on still on the tender axle center. I put everything back together and start her up. two circles later another short...with a turnout center area getting red hot! I shut everything down and found the centering spring between the rails. I waited until it stopped being red hot and picked it up. I did not know this was there. So, again I go to reassemble the spring back into the back and noticed that the screw would loosen as the coupler moved side to side. So, this seems to have happened over time. I used some blue loctite since the threads were fine and everything seems okay now. So, you might look at the rear coupler on the tender if you have one and if it comes loose, then look for that spring.
Happy Halloween!
I know that I have been having too much fun with my Lionel trains when I see real life railroad tracks and wonder why the middle rail is missing.
Location: Rialto, CA | Registered:: January 21, 2008
