Hi everyone just had a question about my whistle. I have a Lionel 681 steam turbine with the tender that came with it. it seems that the whistle only really sounds good and works right when the train is neutral with the voltage all the way up. When im running the engine around the track it doesn't seem to have enough juice. is this normal or is there a problem. I have a kw transformer.
Welcome to the forum!
More than likely, the whistle motor in the tender needs to be serviced. Take the motor apart and clean everything (brushplate, brushes, and commutator face) with Naphtha. Reassemble and add a drop of light oil to the bearings on both ends of the armature shaft.
Clean all the wheels and all the track with Naphtha also.
The KW transformer may also need its whistle rectifier disc replaced.
Larry
thank you
ill service the motor and let you know. Ill also look into the transformer as well
Be advised that on whistle motors the impeller inside the resonance chamber is pressed on the shaft. As such the armature cannot be removed from the motor and the lower bearing cannot be easily accessed. It is still important that the lower bearing be lubricated as it is the one that more often goes bad, at least in my experience. A needle oiler is helpful in this case. Also be careful removing the brush plate cover as Lionel often does not leave as much lead from the field coil as they do on drive motors. It is sometimes better to unsolder the wire to the field coil rather than try to flex it.