I have two of these marked Copyright 2000. The one today started running erraticly (sp?) I hadn't run my trains in a few weeks so I tried cleaning some tracks. That made it worse. I took the body off to see if there was lint or something in the gears. Looks fine but I did notice when I touch one side of the Left contact strip ever so slightly it runs great. I tried cleaning the contact but no go. So what should I do ? I hesistate to bend it. also while I have it apart should I lubricate anything and with what light oil or grease. Thanks, Dave Always interested in the Reading and other anthracite RR's plus Coal Mines, Especially in "N"
Have you cleaned the wheels? Ny guess is the wheels are contaminated with dirt. I use an electronic cleaner but any alcohol based product should be ok. The easiest way to clean wheels is to place some paper towel on the track and spray with solution. Place one truck on the track and apply power. While the wheels are turning place the other truck onto the paper towel and let the action of the wheels turning be cleaned on the paper towel with the solution.
Dave: I wouldn't lubricate the loco at all if there isn't any noises coming from the motor. Repositioning the contact strip to make sure it contacts the wheel contacts should solve the problem. Make sure all wheel contacts are contacting the left contact strip. Stay cool and run steam....
I prayed and bent them ever so slightly with a thin bentnose needle nose pliers. Appears to have worked. I also did the Iso Alchohol on the paper towel trick. Thanks Fellows. Follow up question Does having the body on, put any downward pressure on those strips ? I don't have DCC but should the contacts on the PC board ever be cleaned ? and finally can I replace the currently Dim yellow mini LEDS with Bright whites, and if so what spec or P/N should I look at ? Thanks Dave
There's no need to clean the contacts on the light board. You can replace the yellow leds with white leds. You just have to be careful in your soldering technique. Use a very fine tip on your soldering instrument. Stay cool and run steam.......
Dave, Two ways to replace the LED's: either by replacing the LED's with new ones (and possibly resistors... how are your soldering and electronics skills ) or replace the entire board. Atlas has at least 3 different versions of boards with LED's: the first had dim yellow, the second had bright white, and the third (and most recent version) has the golden white LED's. Harold
