Fire inthe Hole

Enon49OGR Forum Member

Last evening my brother came to help set up my new Christmas train – Lionel’s “”Christmas Light Express.”” I ha perched this train in late November and – Donnie was helping set thins up for the grandkids coming tomorrow - we took it out of box – set it up – applied power and it immediately began to smoke - the beginnings of an electrical fire – quickly shut it off before serious damage.

Now an interesting twist to this story – Donnie had bought the same train – different time and different dealer – Last weekend He set it up for his grandkids – the music ca caught fire and burned .

Not Good

12/23/234:42 AM

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Original Post

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Steven BullockOGR Forum Member

Whoa. There is currently one of these sets wrapped under our tree. Due to past Lionel problems, I have been purchasing everything new from my local dealer- that way I can just hand it back to them with any issues.

Sucks that it's this close to Christmas and you may not get it working. Best of luck with it.

Regards,

Steven

12/23/236:17 AM

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romiller49OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Two sets two fires. Sounds very serious. Any idea what may have caused it?

12/23/232:28 PM

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Jim R.OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

There have been no other reports of defects in this set. What exactly is he doing during setup? He wasn’t trying to use an AC transformer instead of the DC wall wart that comes with the set, was he?

12/24/231:41 PM

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IRON HORSEOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@Jim R. posted:
There have been no other reports of defects in this set. What exactly is he doing during setup? He wasn’t trying to use an AC transformer instead of the DC wall wart that comes with the set, was he?

Good question. I once fried a Lionel Hobby shop because I connected the wires wrong but had the right transformer. That was on me. It smoked and smelled.

12/24/231:54 PM

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Train NutOGR Forum Member

@Jim R. posted:
There have been no other reports of defects in this set. What exactly is he doing during setup? He wasn’t trying to use an AC transformer instead of the DC wall wart that comes with the set, was he?

Why would that matter? That set runs on AC current or DC current.

12/24/231:57 PM

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Jim R.OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

@Train Nut posted:
Why would that matter? That set runs on AC current or DC current.

The wall wart connection is foolproof. The transformer hookup is not. It sounds like an electrical short, likely in the way the transformer was connected. This happened twice, with the same person installing it each time. Trying to troubleshoot something that should be extremely simple.

12/24/233:21 PM

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romiller49OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@Jim R. posted:
This happened twice, with the same person installing it each time.

I didn’t see that at first. Most likely a hookup problem. Hopefully they’ll keep us posted.

12/24/233:53 PM

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Allan MillerOGR Editor-in-Chief SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I have that same set, just purchased a week or so ago. Have not even taken it out of the shipping box yet, but will do so in the next day or so and will report here.

12/24/239:33 PM

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