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I have 2 Lionel 3469 dump cars that have been packed away for 8 years and they won't dump the coal. When I press the unload button on the control track the plunger pops up to dump the coal but it is too weak to dump the coal. I have tried multiple control tracks with the same result. I have other operating cars that work just fine. I took 1 cars apart and cleaned the coil and plugger and reassembled it with the same result. I put the car on its side and touched the shoes with the wires from the transformer and the plunger works great with a lot of power. I cleaned the shoes and control track and it did not help.  And ideas?

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You can set up most of the control tracks to work off fixed voltage, not center rail voltage. One of the outside wires going to the controller is coming from the center rail. Just connect that wire to a variable power source.  Then set the voltage on that wire to something that gets the dump car to dump properly.

Another possibility is that the insulation on the wire going to the accessory shoe on the cars trucks has hardened. When this happens sometimes the assessors shoe may not sit flat on the control rail.  This can cause problems getting the car to dump.  These wires can be changed out to super flex wire.  This will give the accessory shoe freedom to adjust to the control rail.  

If you tried several control tracks and got the same result, try adjusting the car itself.

1.  Loosen screw

2.  Hold dump door CLOSED and rotate it to the dump position.

3.  Tighten screw almost all the way

4.  Insert a flat head screwdriver into the screw slot

5.  Rotate the entire assembly back to it's normal position WITHOUT letting the screw turn.

6.  Fully tighten screw.

John

If that doesn't work it is probably a lack of power.

Last edited by Craftech

Thank you guys so much for your input. When I hooked up direct power to the control track Mike old dump cars dumped just fine! It turns out that the controllers formy 3 control tracks all needed to be adjusted; I had to open up the back of the controllers and take a hemostat and carefully Bend the metal contacts closer together so that when you press the button to unload they made better contact.

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