@drelo posted:For Christmas I received one of the new Lionel Burlington Northern PS-5 gondolas. Put it on my layout and once it crossed my Ross 0-72 turnout, sparks started flying and it shorted my layout. I thought I may have left some metal laying on the rails, so I checked everything, powered the layout back up and same thing on the next trip.
I checked the trucks and didn't see any flashing, or anything that would cause a short. As a test, I swapped them with the older style trucks from one of my other PS-5 gondolas, and no issue with shorting out the layout. I called Lionel but they were off for the holiday, so I sent email to their service department. Still waiting to hear back from them.
It doesn't look like I can easily swap them out for MTH trucks. Are Atlas trucks and easy swap?
Unless they redesign the trucks, I won't be purchasing anymore of their rolling stock.
Amen, brother. I have lost count of how many times I have posted on the Forum about the inferior Lionel trucks and couplers issue over the past few years, including multiple times in this particular thread. This issue continues to be an albatross around Lionel's neck, and actually became considerably worse fairly recently when Lionel made a bizarre decision to migrate from articulated to fixed couplers. I stopped purchasing Lionel rolling stock a while back and either buy old-new Lionel rolling stock, or MTH or Atlas O rolling stock, both of which have excellent trucks and couplers.
Pat
