# Son just received Lionel "Little League Baseball" set Need help.



## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

Hi Im new here and new to model trains. My five year old just received a Lionel "Little League Baseball" set from 1997. The thing is I cant get it to work and dont know if im doing something wrong or if its broke. Im getting power in the controller cause I can see the power light. When I connect the ctc lockon to the track the light will start to blink when the dial is moved towards full speed. The locomotive doesnt move and the light does not go on. There is a switch on the bottom of the locomotive and neither position works. Is there any way to test if the locomotive is broke? or if its the power supply itself? If it is broke how much would it cost me to get a locomotive or a controller fixed? would it be better to just buy new? Well thanks in advance for any answers.

heres a few pics:


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

mic360 said:


> Hi Im new here and new to model trains. My five year old just received a Lionel "Little League Baseball" set from 1997. The thing is I cant get it to work and dont know if im doing something wrong or if its broke. Im getting power in the controller cause I can see the power light. When I connect the ctc lockon to the track the light will start to blink when the dial is moved towards full speed. The locomotive doesnt move and the light does not go on. There is a switch on the bottom of the locomotive and neither position works. Is there any way to test if the locomotive is broke? or if its the power supply itself? If it is broke how much would it cost me to get a locomotive or a controller fixed? would it be better to just buy new? Well thanks in advance for any answers.
> 
> heres a few pics:


I don't know about that transformer, but others will blink when there is a short somewhere.
Are you sure you got the lock on wires right? Did you try switching them?

The set looks new. Do you know the person who had them before you acquired them?

Thats a plastic body on it right?

It might have a loose wire inside did you take a look inside at the engine?

You can take the hot wire off the transformer and touch the roller pickups on the bottom of the engine to see what happens.


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## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

I will try switching the wires around now, and no I dont know the owner was a friend of my mothers who passed away and new my son loves trains. Is there anyway to hook these wires up without the lockon thing and if so could you point me in the right direction please. Trains came with no box or manual, but are in brand new looking condition.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

mic360 said:


> I will try switching the wires around now, and no I dont know the owner was a friend of my mothers who passed away and new my son loves trains. Is there anyway to hook these wires up without the lockon thing and if so could you point me in the right direction please. Trains came with no box or manual, but are in brand new looking condition.



I was going to say that maybe the lock on is bad but it looks good.

Just jam the hot wire under the center rail and the other on an outside rail to bypass the lock on.

Is the engine body plastic?????


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

When the T man comes on he will give you a online manual. I hope.

I got to get some sleep so I can do another 14 hr day. Got 600 miles to travel tomorrow.

In the mean time check out Thor's site. He might have some info on it.

http://www.thortrains.net/manualx.htm

Sorry I can't help more but I got no time right now.


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## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

nope the locomotive is a heavy metal and the cars are all plastic. I removed the lockon and put the power to the center and ground to off rail. Locomotive lights up and runs, Other car makes sound, and one of the other cars light up perfect. 2 problems I have left are, Im getting shocked when I touch the tracks and when the locomotive gets to certain points of the track it seems to cut off for a second and then gets right back going. thanks for the help so far.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

mic360 said:


> nope the locomotive is a heavy metal and the cars are all plastic. I removed the lockon and put the power to the center and ground to off rail. Locomotive lights up and runs, Other car makes sound, and one of the other cars light up perfect. 2 problems I have left are, Im getting shocked when I touch the tracks and when the locomotive gets to certain points of the track it seems to cut off for a second and then gets right back going. thanks for the help so far.


It might be a wire rubbing on the inside against the body?
Well at least you know it runs?

Wait till the t man or servoguy comes on right now i am going to Z land.

NJ:thumbsup: what exit?????< for TJ:laugh: (a member here.)

I am off of exit ten.

Later, goodnight.


Edit,

What other car makes a sound?

Not the tender? (coal car)


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## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

Ok think I might be putting the lockon on wrong. 

I was hooking it up like this 









when I think I might need to hook it up like this 









only problem is it doesnt clip in like this.

im in belleville nj essex county. and thanks for the help. I shoulda been asleep a half hour ago. think ill head there now and play with this some more tomorow. Enough shocking my self for the night.


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

mic360 said:


> when I think I might need to hook it up like this


Yes, this is correct


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

when you get shocked by the track is it a light sort of shock or a big jolt. I know that lionel trains and the track are ac powered so if you touch it you will get a sort of throbbing kind of feelingy thing this is normal and when the throttle is at full you will feel this more it's completly normal. I have a set like yours except mine is in a New York Central livery, and that perticular controller will have a blinking light when there is a short ie: if the train derails and their is metal touching the center and outer rail causeing a short. About your train loosing power at certain points on the track this means the track is dirty at these spots or the connectors that join the tracks are coming loose or are not touching the other tracks. To fix this i get a pair of needle nose pliers and a fairly gently squeeze about the middle of the tie height wise were the track goes together this usaully fixes any of my track problems and to clean the track use a scotch brite pad though i don't think that is your problem becuase the track in the pictures looks fine.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

First place the caboose on the track and see if it lights up. Then you have power. The plug from the power pack into the controller could be bad.
My suggestion is play with the switch. What could be the case is the engine is locked in neutral. It has an electronic e unit with forward, reverse and neutral. So place it on the track add power and remove it once or twice. Then flip the switch and repeat. 
That is an AC transformer, I have one. I could find and scan the manual if you want it. Try to get some life from it first.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Mic,

Here's the manual for that transformer ...

http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocuments/71-2885-250.pdf

It sounds to me like your initial problem was that you had the lockon hooked to the track the wrong way ... you had power going to two outer rails. That caused the transformer to go into blinking light (short circuit) mode. You want the power to go to one out rail and the center rail.

Regards,

TJ


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

All I found was this link to troubleshoot. The engine is rarer than mine and rates a 6 as rare, compared to my 4. 
If you have two switches on the underside one is for the smoke unit. By looking at the wires you should tell what is on and what it connects to. The swithes could be gone, you may try jumping the connection.

So 
71-2885-250 is the number! Mine didn't work. 71-1900-250 but info is the same except for the fastrak.


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

lol, this is amusing!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

x_doug_x said:


> lol, this is amusing!


 How so??? Where are you going with that one ...

TJ


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

no where...



be delicate with track clip and bend the little tab back towards the other metal hook just a little. not much, this should cause it to lock on the track. you'll be good there. after this, clean the track. maybe someone in here will post up what they recomend cleaning the track with. i have track cleaner from the local hobby store here. i have in the past always used light sand paper. however, i hear from a lot of people that's frowned upon. the slowing down at certain spots in the track makes me think the track needs cleaned and it's not picking up good. when it hits the spots in the track where it slows down does the headlight get dimmer ?


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

when i say clean the track i mean just the surface where the wheels from the train touch the track and the center pickup. just the surface of the round tubing.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Yes pull the center clip tab out with some needle nose pliers when you have it on the track like in your picture. A little help and it will pop on.

I use a scotch brite pad (the green ones) to clean the track. Sandpaper might take off too much of the metal and it will be prone to rusting. I use 190 proof ethanol. I get that where I work.

You just got to be careful of sparks as it is highly flammable.

Has anyone ever try to get off the glue from a bumper sticker on their car?
Hard?

Use some straight ethanol it takes it off real easy with hardly any rubbing at all. Don't use denatured ethanol as the denaturing ingredients might take off more then the glue. All depends what it was denatured with.


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

big ed said:


> Has anyone ever try to get off the glue from a bumper sticker on their car?
> Hard?


<off topic> I actually use WD-40 for doing stuff like this  </off topic>


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## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

Sorry I didnt check this sonner. The problem wads that I wasnt connecting the lockon right, now that I got that sorted out it works perfect me and my son had the set running all afternoon. Everything is clean and in pefect condition. It was brand new I dont think the previous owner ever had it set up. Thanks for all the replies.


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

don't forget to put smoke in the smoke stack if it has a smoke unit.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

big ed said:


> I use 190 proof ethanol. I get that where I work.


190 proof?!? Yooowww! :laugh:

TJ


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## mic360 (Oct 19, 2010)

gc53dfgc said:


> don't forget to put smoke in the smoke stack if it has a smoke unit.


It came with a unopend tube but its all gone now.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

mic360 said:


> It came with a unopend tube but its all gone now.


I saw some minor rust in your pictures. 
You should properly service the engine with lubrication.

An unopened tube of what? Smoke? Smoke comes in liquid form and tablet form. I didn't know it came in a tube. Are you talking about a tube of grease maybe?

What you ought to do is search the threads here for how to maintain your trains.

Check out the T (epoxy) man's threads. He must have something in there about it.

I am tight on time so at the moment I can't search for you.

4 days work and at 50 hours now! The good part is that they can't send me anywhere far tommorow as I only can be on the road for ten hours then I am illeagal.
But they can ask me to help out in the yard but i will politely refuse.

They asked if I could come in Saturday and jockey trailers around for the wash guy's. I politely refused that too!

60 hrs is enough for me.


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

Ed, I know with MTH locomotives that they all come with a small tube of smoke fluid, so Lionel probably does the same... It does not last very long, LOL...


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Boston&Maine said:


> Ed, I know with MTH locomotives that they all come with a small tube of smoke fluid, so Lionel probably does the same... It does not last very long, LOL...


Now that you said that I think I got a tube of it with the MTH engine I bought.

Is the tube white?


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

just bout all the new sets i bought came with a small clear or white tube of smoke if they smoked. his was prob. a small clear tube. almost like a mini toothpaste tube but clear and only about 2.5 inches long.


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

big ed said:


> Now that you said that I think I got a tube of it with the MTH engine I bought.
> 
> Is the tube white?


You bought an MTH locomotive? 

Yes, it is that white tube...


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I did some digging and found the 1900 manual that shows the switch under the engine.


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