Ray, like Francine, my Polar Express set did not seem to have the same issue as yours did, but I will definitely save your solution for later reference. However, my set did have a stalling problem, but it was caused by a weak transformer.
When I received my set last fall I set it up around the Christmas tree and placed just the engine on the track. When I powered it up it ran fine until I cranked the control wheel past the halfway point. At that the engine abruptly stalled and then restarted. When I added the cars it would stall after turning the wheel only 1/4 turn.
As it turned out the transformer included in the set was just too under-powered. If I recall it was 32 watts. I bought a 72 watt one and that solved the problem. While I was waiting for the new transformer to arrive, I took a 15B transformer, located a salvaged power supply from some broken electronics I had long since discarded and that had a cord with a connector on the end that fit the FastTrack plug, cut the cord off and attached it to the 15B and ran the set with that.
Toward the end of the holidays it did stall a couple of times, but cleaning the track was all it took to fix that. I packed it away after the New Year, so when I pull it out this fall I'll check to make sure the draw bar is properly oriented.
Thanks again for the info!
Dean
