Reply to "Lionel Turbine--Burning Smell"

You didn't state which turbine you bought. I am guessing a early 671 or 2020. Am I right? The smell you had the pleasure of experiencing is the armature breaking down and consuming its self. The early armatures were made of a material that turns to carbon when heated from the electrical resistance. I'll bet there was a 'ring of fire' around the armature when the locomotive was running and consuming a lot of power and running slow. When the build up of carbon burned off, the loco sped up. The evidence of this is if you look closely at the armature face, you can see pock hole marks in the armature insulation between the commutator segments where the insulation has turned to carbon and burned off.