I have an American Flyer 293 that I got for Christmas in 1955. I haven't run it in probably 30 years. I came across it in the closet over the weekend and decided to set it up.
The motor on the locomotive hummed, but the wheels didn't turn. Not surprising. I took it apart, cleaned the brushes and commutator, and put some oil on the axles, armature worm gear shaft, and on the brush end of the armature shaft. It ran like a top.
Tonight I was going through the bag of extra parts, and came across the reverse control, a complexly designed relay that goes inside the coal car. I must have taken it out of the system way back when I had no tools. I cleaned the drum and fingers, removed solder and, with the help of a wiring diagram, put the control back into the wiring loop.
I applied power to the contacts, but just got a clicking from the reverse control. I checked my wiring again against the diagram, then took the control out of the loop. I had the power from the contacts going to the brushes and the two connections at the magnet assembly. The armature would start to turn when I applied power, but wouldn't move more than a fraction of an inch. I tried reversing wires on the magnet assembly. I checked the wires. I took the brushes and armature out again, cleaned and lubricated, and tried again.
The armature turns freely by hand, and turns the wheels easily. If I put power just to the magnet, I get a clicking, and the armature is drawn up to the brushes. I'm wondering if the windings in the armature may have gone bad from me fiddling with this.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to look for?
Thanks much for any replies.