# new to railroading - need help



## fhazen (Oct 23, 2010)

I recently bought a bushel basket of O gage Lionel trains and train components for my Grandson. We have finally managed to get most everything working that was in the bushel basket with the exception of the Lionel No. 5122 remote control switches. There was a left hand and right hand. The actual hand held switch itself has three wires and no matter how i hook the wires to the track section of the switch itself, it does not work. Sometimes i can get a little movement out of the switch but doesn't work properly. There was no track pins in any of the track ends with the exception of one outside conductor which had an insulator pin in it. Do all three track rails require steel pins?

I was able to ring out the hand held switch and was able to determine which conductor was the common and figured the common was the wire for the first terminal (one with the metal plate under it) on the other two wires wouldn't matter which post they were wrapped around. Well this didn't work either.

What am i doing wrong???

Also, the track wants to keep coming apart on us as the train moves around a few times. Is there a secret to keeping the track together??

One of the train engines was the Lionel 8632 steam locomotive. The train doesn't seem to have a whistle when i press the controller whistle button. However the train does speed up when i depress the whistle button. Is this correct or is there something wrong with the train?

Also the Lionel 8632 doesn't reverse when i hit the reverse button on the controller. Is this normal??

The controller is the controller that came with the Lionel Southern Pacific Freight Set.

Any help would be appreciated.

FHazen


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

OK first of i can't help with your first problem with out some pics of what you are doing.

The trick to keeping the track together is 1. get a pair of needle nose pliers 2. get the piece of track that comes loose 3. where the connecting pins go into the holow pipe of the rail where it is at its thinnest which is about half way down the total hieght of the rail and squeze the pliers to make that middle go together this will make it so the track pins at first will be a tight fit but will keep the track in.

The tender of your train if it has a whistle will have holes of some sort in the bottom of it and all lionel trains headlights will get brighter when the whistle button is depressed this happens because O gauge trains run on AC the whistle is trigered when the voltage (might be amperage) is increased in response the headlight will get brighter also this does not mean it has a whistle just the controller is uping the amps going to the train.

K to figure out why your train doesn't revers first look at the underside of the loco and see if you can find a swith there or on top of the loco this is known as an E-unit this will make the train go in forward only or will make it go through forwards, nuetral, and reverse.

Hope this helps some


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

FHazen,

GC has good advice above.

Here's a parts diagram for your 8632 loco (I think):

http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocuments/32610-8632-001Complete.pdf

It looks like it does have an auto-reversing E-unit. Toggle the switch the other way ... hopefully, if the e-unit is working, that'll allow it to cylcle into "forward/reverse" mode via the transformer control. Also, a full transformer throttle-down / throttle-up should induce the same thing.

It looks like there's a smoke unit in the loco (though maybe this was an option)?

I do not see a whistle, though it looks like the tender originally mated to the loco may have had a whistle. Do you have that?

http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocuments/26691-8632-T01.pdf

When you hit the whistle or smoke button on a Lionel transformer, it kicks out a DC voltage signal that's added to the normal AC power voltage. This DC component will activate the whistle or smoke unit. However, if these are inactive (or not present), you might see a small jump in speed in the loco itself.

Here's an exploded view parts diagram for your 5122 switch:

http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocuments/376-65122Complete.pdf

You might have a faulty switch motor and/or plunger.

OK ... my turn to ask the questions ...

So, how much does one pay to buy a "bushel basket of O gage Lionel trains" ?!?  Sounds like a great deal.

Good luck,

TJ


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Servo guy has suggested to offset the pin linup so you have a tension when joined. An easy floor method is to use small elastics around the ties or wire. Pinching the tube works too.

The switch need insulating pins on the inside rails at the y.
This will activate the switch non derailing feature. What you can do is just test the switch with no extra track. One wire on the center, the other on the outer rail. WIth a screwdriver touch two terminals . One combination will work moving the switch each way. Find out which terminal is hot and ground one other to switch direction, then you are ready for the controller.

The engine will jump when using the whistle , the added DC is a boost. Your whistle may be electronic or mechanical. Electronic has a speaker. Mechanical has a motor and a fan with a whistle.

On the engine you have two small switches , one stops the smoke the other locks the direction of the e unit. Forward, neutral or reverse.

The switch should work. Now you can get started.


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