New Lionel 2026 Restoration

Your best bet is to take the E unit out and see what's going on.  Especially if you say the E unit is cocked.   Otherwise you can spray on its contact cleaner and see what happens.

I have sprayed with contact cleaner and partially removed the e-unit from the frame and can see where the drum roller is not sitting straight across. I'll go back tonight and take a closer look.

Thanks

I would scrape the contacts on the E unit drum and the fingers riding on the drum very carefully with small, sharp and pointy knife until shinny and clean.

Charlie

I'll try that tonight Charlie and let you know what happens.

If the drum is crocked no amount of spraying or scraping is going to fix it. The e-unit needs to be taken apart and repaired.  Most likely will need a new drum. 

I could be wrong but I think what you have is an early '51 version.  The ridge on the inside of the middle wheel is the give-away.  There is mention of it in the Lionel service manual.  I think this caused derailing problems on some switches.  By 1953, all locos of this type had a smooth tread on the middle wheels (i.e., without the ridge.)

nice score! good luck.

 Rebuilding the unit is about a 20 minute job if you have the correct tool. Go to Jeff Kane at Train Tender.com  and buy an e unit separator tool plus a drum and replacement contacts. The total cost including the tool should be less than $25 including the tool which you can use in the future.

Also, Jeff has rebuilt e units at very competitive prices.

What Forest said above. In older engines the plastic contact drum in the E-unit gets deformed and wedges itself so it won't move. I repaired a 1666 for a friend and the E-unit drum looked like somebody had chewed on it. Take a look and if the drum is misshapen or cracked just replace it. Check the bottom contacts too. It's not a big tear-down job, hardest part is messing with the E-unit to replace the drum/contacts.

O Gauge Jim posted:

 Rebuilding the unit is about a 20 minute job if you have the correct tool. Go to Jeff Kane at Train Tender.com  and buy an e unit separator tool plus a drum and replacement contacts. The total cost including the tool should be less than $25 including the tool which you can use in the future.

Also, Jeff has rebuilt e units at very competitive prices.

More like an hour the first time, 20 minutes or less the second time.  Not a difficult job, just a juggling act!  

Ted S posted:

I could be wrong but I think what you have is an early '51 version.  The ridge on the inside of the middle wheel is the give-away.  There is mention of it in the Lionel service manual.  I think this caused derailing problems on some switches.  By 1953, all locos of this type had a smooth tread on the middle wheels (i.e., without the ridge.)

My understanding is that the '51's and '52's had two wheel rear pilots and mine has a four wheel rear pilot. In addition, my engine has roller pickups instead of sliding shoes.

Both of those factors should make it a '53, I believe.

Richie C. posted:

Ted S posted:

I could be wrong but I think what you have is an early '51 version.  The ridge on the inside of the middle wheel is the give-away.  There is mention of it in the Lionel service manual.  I think this caused derailing problems on some switches.  By 1953, all locos of this type had a smooth tread on the middle wheels (i.e., without the ridge.)

My understanding is that the '51's and '52's had two wheel rear pilots and mine has a four wheel rear pilot. In addition, my engine has roller pickups instead of sliding shoes.

Both of those factors should make it a '53, I believe.

Afraid not.  My own 2026 is a '51 (I know this because Santa brought it for me at Christmas, 1951), and it has the four-wheel rear truck.

Yep.  The 1948-49 models had a die-cast 2-wheel trailing truck, and sliding shoes.  They also had separate handrails and a less-detailed body casting. 

The rollers and open four-wheel trailing truck came for 1950, and that model was designated a 2036.  In 1951, magnetic materials were needed for the Korean war.  So the motor lost its magnetraction and the loco got its old number back, 2026.  I said 1951 because of the weird ridge on your middle wheels.  None of the locos from the mid-to-late 1950s had it, so I guess this is an early model.

Came across this from Tandem Associates.

"The Lionel Prairie Type 2-6-2-Locomotive No. 2026 was issued on two different occasions by Lionel. This accounts for the two major variations of this locomotive. We’ve listed all of these variations below.

"The North Ameican engine that that never was".

Except for a rumored SF test-Prarie with a booster truck that supposedly inspired the model, and a photoless ledgend that a Michigan logger Con Culhane had a mid 1880s loco a 4 wheel trailing truck, but may have done that mod himself, none were made here.

Rich, reverse the leads for either the brushes or the field positions and you'll run in forward until you get repaired.

   Look for slop in the axle bearings and gear play on posts while you're torn down. These will run until they skip teeth when worn bad.  The rear gear seems to skip first most often.

There are two e-unit tools (at least). One is a special pry bar, the other is a clamp that spreads vs compacts.  I never had the pleasure of using the real thing, I have some toolmaker clamps I can flip to open the I.D. (like mini versions of woodworking 2-hand-screw shop clamps.)

I did reverse the leads and it goes forward. The wheels and gears appear in excellent condition with virtually no wear or slop. I cleaned up the brushes and comm surface, so everything on the motor side looks good.

I've decided to get a refurbished e-unit to get the train up and running and also order the spreading tool, drum, fingers, etc. to rebuild the existing e-unit on my schedule. I also need a left side rod and cross-head, a light bulb, and I'm not exactly sure what smoke unit is in it. It has a "cream" colored "brick" in it with tiny silver wires wrapped around it. I'd like to convert it to liquid.   

With all that said, I plan on giving Jeff a call to order the necessary parts and will post my progress as the restoration goes along.

Thanks

That smoke unit was originally designed for smoke pellets. But you can use it with liquid also if it is still operational. Just don't overfill it.

Train Nut posted:

That smoke unit was originally designed for smoke pellets. But you can use it with liquid also if it is still operational. Just don't overfill it.

That's what I figured, but wasn't sure. I believe it's also missing all the internal parts, springs, levers, etc. that I'll have to pick up. Thanks