I have the Lionel "O" gauge Moe & Joe operating lumber car. It operated once or twice on the UCS "O" gauge track but is finicky to get operating. I've checked the UCS track and it seems to be in good operational order. The contact rails are clean as are the cars contact shoes. I purchased the car new earlier this year. I checked to see if the mechanism that moves Moe & Joe is free to move and it is.
Is there something else I should look for ?
So I put the car on my test track and it one, maybe two boards unload. Then on the third try the mechanism just barely moves. I dismantled the upper, mechanism from the flatcar and took pictures. When the controller button is pushed, and the mechanism works, there are sparks emanating from the area where the back of the silver plunger is in contact with the black part of the frame. In the first & third photos, you can see the silver plungers. The first photo is of the underside of the mechanism. Right where the TEE part of the plunger goes through the black lumber pushing plate, is where the sparks are coming from.
I'm wondering if this shorting is causing then solenoids to get tired after the first couple of moves. However, the other day I was able to unload all of the boards without any issue.
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