Faulty Lionel prewar E unit?

Sounds like it's working perfectly.

Thanks Rob. If that's working perfectly, I'll stick with my Marx locos . 😏

@trainman48 posted:

Any suggestions for a remedy?

Assemble it with the shell and all of its wheels, connect to a tender & consist, it will work as designed.

How much are you reducing the track voltage to slow it down?  What transformer are you using for power?  Can you make the locomotive run slow, or does it only start to run when higher voltage is applied making it start fast?  

You might try putting it together and see if the added weight helps.

I agree with Rob... with the weight of a die-cast shell, it will definitely take more voltage before the loco starts moving.  So it's most likely operating as designed.

Make sure the screw that holds the e-unit to the frame is in position. It serves 2 purposes. One is to keep it in it's place, and the other is to provide a good electrical path to ground. I've found that out the hard way.