John .. I may have added to my own problem and shame on me if I did.. I pulled the flywheel and magnet back off the armature shaft and I do see a 'witness swipe' on the bottom of the magnet where it obviously contacted the pickup .. After I cleaned the old glue off the flywheel the new magnet fit nice and square up against the shoulder of the flywheel (dimples facing the flywheel). But when I glued it in place, it must have came off the shoulder of the flywheel a couple of thousandths of an inch, as I do see a very small gap between the magnet and the flywheel shoulder (again a couple of thousandths, no more) at the clock angle of the witness mark on the magnet side of the magnetic ring. So I am wondering, could I have taken out the electronics that monitor the magnetic ring on the flywheel or the fact that there is a variation on the gap as the armature spins that is confusing the system.. At this point I am thinking of just buying a new motor, pickup and flywheel assembly from Lionel as they show it available ... hopeful the electronics are still okay .. before the old magnet came off in its entirety, the engine would be erratic at slow speeds (speed-up and then recover) and when I was investigating, I did notice that there was a hairline crack in the magnet before it eventually fell off in it's entirety.
Not quite sure of next steps.. any suggestions are always appreciated
