Skip to main content

RE: Lionel 1931180 #3304 A-6 Union Pacific Steam Locomotive (From the 2018 Vol 2 catalog)

The good news is that my new locomotive arrived yesterday. I put it on the track today, powered it up and hit ENG 1 on my Legacy controller and it started up, smoked nicely and whistle smoke worked as well as the whistle and bell. It moved forward and reversed fine.

I had asked the dealer to test all functions before shipping and he did.

The bad news: A few minutes later, I again powered up the locomotive and the main smoke unit started smoking like crazy...then the very bad burning smoke smell followed. I powered it down, turned off the smoke unit then powered it up again and train sounds started without addressing the engine and now it will not move or respond to any Legacy commands.

Since it is Saturday and there is nobody to call at Lionel, I wanted to see if there was any suggestions to try or if the only choice is to get an RA and send to Lionel for repair. The dealer does not have another one and I already paid $ 45.81 to ship in here (CA) and would hate to pay another $ 45.81 to return it to him, get a refund and still have no locomotive!

Please, no Lionel bashing!

I'm just looking for suggestions.

 

Last edited by stangtrain
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I received my new Lionel Legacy A-6 Illinois Central a month ago and it has been running fine in Legacy.  I also checked out its Bluetooth and Conventional operation and both were ok.

If I were you, I'd do a bit of troubleshooting as follows in order to isolate what the issue might be.  Whatever caused the smoke (fried resistor?  too much smoke fluid? etc), might have caused the loco ID to drop off.  So, with smoke switch in 'off' position, I'd switch to PGM and try to reprogram the loco again via your Legacy controller.  I've had locos with somewhat intermittent PGM/RUN switches that would lose their ID after programming, but self-healed themselves after five or so switch movements from RUN to PGM and back again. 

Next, I'd check the loco for Conventional operation.  Next I'd check the loco for Bluetooth operation. 

Upon trying these several troubleshooting steps, you'll better understand what may or may not be going on with your loco. 

Tom

I have had some funnies when programming a new engine.  What Tom said.  Have even had to remove a loco from the track first, then enter the loco info and number into the legacy remote, then set the loco switch to pgm, then placed the loco and tender on the track, then pressed the set button on the legacy remote, then the loco responded with its whistle; then removed the loco from the track and set the loco switch to run.

Thanks for the replies:

I did not add any smoke fluid to the engine before initial (actually 2nd power up) testing that resulted in the huge plume of smoke event with associated burning smells. 

I then turned the smoke switches to off ("no smoke"). 

I did slide the switch to PGM (program mode) and powered up the track. Railsounds engine sounds started immediately and the engine did not respond to programming. I had planned to reset (reprogramming to restore features) but wasn't able to get that far.

Other than engine sounds, the engine is unresponsive to all commands.

Even if it were to run in conventional or if Bluetooth worked, I would still have to send it to Lionel for repair.

UPDATE 2/24/2020:

I contacted (called) Lionel service and promptly received via email an RA on 2/5 with a prepaid return shipping document; Lionel received the engine from me on 2/10, repaired and shipped it back to me on 2/20 and I received it here today 2/24. So their turnaround was only really 10 days.

It works great and came from Lionel service with a nice note stating that the seal on the box meant that they tested it before it left their hands originally..I know that Side Track Hobbies also tested it before they shipped it to me. I suppose that it somehow was damaged from shipping to me (in CA) from MD but was okay from China to NC and then to MD. 

Parts replaced include an RCMC board, a smoke unit motor and smoke unit batting.

Am I happy that I received an engine that didn't work right? - no, BUT I am now pleased with my 70th birthday present to myself and glad to know that Lionel is ready to do what it needs to do when things like this happen.

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×