In 2018 I purchased a Lionel Lionchief Polar Express with remote SKU: 6-30218, for my Grandson. It's the NON-Bluetooth version. I oil it up each year. My Grandsons are 6 & 3 and probably played with the trains more this year than usual. We alternate between various Lionchief engines, mostly for variety.
The engine has been used only as a Xmas layout set. It's been an excellent runner, quite, smooth, nice slow speed performance, but at the end of this past Xmas season, it developed a noticeable whine when running. Boys being boys, they like to run fast. With 2 loops of track, it's never, lets run the trains but lets race them! How could you blame them. I always use a variable transformer to keep the voltage low & high speed within reason. I also monitor them to be sure they're careful.
I decided to remove the engine until I could at least grease up the gears. I only removed the bottom plate, cleaned up some excess oil & grease then re-lubricated. Inspection showed little to no wear. Back together & on the track with no change in the noise.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Joe
