What is missing?

Looks like everything is there if you have the roller and the screw.  The insulator appears to be in place. 

I'm not sure if it's just the picture or not, but the insulator almost looks somewhat melted to me right around the screw hole?

Thanks for the reply gentlemen.  The screw and roller are correct.  I found them together between the rails.  The screw bottoms out before anything is tight.  The roller does not index to the frame with the screw tight.  There is a gap begging to be filled with something.  This engine came in set #6-31990.  I found and copied this.

Could part #30 be missing?

Can you remove the other roller assembly and see what it has?

I did.  Nothing but a shorter screw and a roller pickup.  The rear pickup indexes into a "C" shaped notch in the bottom.

Bill,

Check the Lionel parts webpage.  Lots of good info there.

Suggestion:  A better Topic title (Help With Missing Part on Lionel Docksider) might increase replies and help others when using the Forum Search function.

Old Goat

Bill- I have one of these engines. I will pull a pick up off later if I have some time and post a couple of pix. My guess is that the pick up has been loose for a while and heated up the insulator and deformed it to the point that the screw won't tighten down all the way anymore.

Bob

Just for grins, take the screw out of the other pickup and compare the parts. My memory is fuzzy, but I seem to recall a clear plastic washer that goes between the pickup and the engine.

I think maybe Jake has the answer, that insulator might have gotten warped.  If I had one handy to look at, I'd check.  I don't think you're missing any parts.

More out of curiosity, I decided to look at the parts illustration for this engine. I noticed under the Copper Range Docksider illustration, that the Series 1 motor is no longer available. This is something that bothers me about the constant advances and features and changes in products, is that parts become obsolete rather quickly.

So I poked around the parts listings. There is a Series 2 motor available, but it has differing screw mountings requiring a whole new frame to accommodate the different motor. Look here at both part illustrations for #24 and #28.

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...mp;resultsPerPage=75

So Bill, while you're looking for the insulator, I'd also be searching parts dealers to find someone who stocks that Series 1 motor, should you eventually need one, otherwise you'll have an engine that is useless. Or, as these engines are fairly common, you could buy a secondhand one to cob for parts, so long as it has the same motor.

One of the standard things I do when considering a locomotive purchase (if it's not a model I already have) is I check for parts availability. I really do try to streamline engine purchases to ones that use common parts between them. There was one LTI-era steam engine I was considering, but Lionel and also parts dealers no longer had the DC motor in stock for this particular engine, so I passed. If you cannot find the correct DC motor for your locomotive, it's basically junk... or parts for another one.

DC can motors will eventually fail at some point in time, so I try (as much as I can) try to stick to engines where the parts are available. And it seems to be the way things are going these days: It's not just Lionel. Changes in product design along with limited inventory of parts is going to make a lot of products obsolete, regardless of their retail cost. And original low-run production quantities will help insure that there's no profitability for someone to make reproduction parts, as was the case with the postwar and MPC era.

The only saving grace, is if it was a popular model that sold in sufficient quantities, where you can purchase a second used loco to use for parts. Or if the product has continued in current production with the same parts. But even with "low-end" locomotives, the LionChief and LC+ technology use entirely differing components from their earlier counterparts. 

Good luck with your engine fix Bill. I'm impressed with how you've come along in the short time you've been posting here. You obviously have some mechanical and modeling abilities, and/or a willingness to dive into projects that a good many who have been in the hobby longer, would never attempt.

Good point on the Series-I motor Brian, they typically fail sooner rather than later!

@gunrunnerjohn, I don't want to derail the topic here too much, though it does happen frequently on the various train forums... .

You ought to be on the Lionel payroll (though that probably won't happen!) for all the assistance you provide on the forum to help people get their trains running. No one currently at Lionel or MTH provides the advice and service you provide for people. Though in all fairness, there are others who chime in and help folks with other problems - which is one of the positives with these train forums.

And given the point I made above, well it's not like the old days. The mythology that Lionel trains will run 50 years from now, is probably a thing of the past. Yep, the technology in trains today is amazing, but like with many other high tech products, parts become obsolete rather quickly with all the feature changes.

I just have no interest in the high end products, but you come along and can provide information on individual components on circuit boards... it blows me away sometimes how much you know about this stuff. Or can recommend replacement boards... of course, it helps that you have some of them made yourself. Still it's a service, and you are helping in your own way, to fill a large void in the hobby these days.

Newspapers used to have the "roving reporter." Well, you are the "roving repair guy," just incase you were ever considering a new screen name.

Thanks Brian, I'm not sure what to say!   Let me know when my Lionel paychecks are ready to be mailed.

Pictures as promised Bill.

The small boss on the plastic insulator is facing toward the brass sleeve on mine. 

It's sad what we pay for this stuff and parts are obsolete in 5 years or less. I do not understand why this is.

feet posted:

It's sad what we pay for this stuff and parts are obsolete in 5 years or less. I do not understand why this is.

In this case, I think the parts just fell off.

Does the engine operate with one pickup?  If it does that is one issue off the table.  In the old days we would merely fabricate a replacement part and continue merrily along.  If the only thing missing essentially is a spacer then make one and reattach the pickup.

It probably will run but I'm sure it would stall on switches and crossovers.

RSJB18 posted:

It probably will run but I'm sure it would stall on switches and crossovers.

 The test is to determine if there is an additional problem other than the pickup falling off.  If it runs then the only problem you have to solve is how to reattach the pickup.  It is so easy today to go online to find parts that we do not sometimes look at the easiest solution which in this case might be just making a spacer out of insulated material.  It could be as simple as a piece of cardboard or as hard as sending it off for repair.