I have the above controller that I bought in 2016 and use every Christmas season to operate a milk car and log car.

Each year when I set the layout up the unloading button works very erratically.  I have taken it in to my local Lionel dealer and when he takes the controller apart it looks like the contacts on the unloading side look like they are scorched.  Using Emory cloth or a small wire wheel cleans the contacts up for a season but wondering what is going on with the contacts.

I don't push the unload button for an excessive time and don't use the unloading feature that much.

It's very frustrating to have to take this in for service every year and previously I had a couple of 027 operating tracks that never needed this service.

Any ideas?