In the summer I bought an old Lionel 1664 steamer for a soft price with some corrosion on the nickel driving rods and an issue with the E-unit. After the steamer crossed the ocean, I soon discovered what the issue was: the steamer only reverses and did not drive forward. At first I cleaned the E-unit drum and checked the contacts, it appeared to work correct in the dissembled state, but as soon as put it all together the damn thing only reversed again... Three times I dissembled it, controlled it with a Volt-meter and thought that it would fine, well every time it proved not to be so. After 2 months, I gave up and started to look for replacement, which I soon found on Ebay. After I assured myself that the second E-unit worked correctly, I removed all the wires and solder-residu from it, cleaned, rewired it with modern wire and soldered back into the 1664. Seeing both E-units connected and step by step disconnecting another wire from the old E-unit and soldering it to the 'new' one, reminded me a bit of heart transplantation. Moreover, the E-unit operates a bit like a hearth in a toy train: controlling the flow of electricity through the motor. The good news is: the patient survived and the steamer enthusiastically runs forward and backward again. All that is left to do is a thorough cleaning job and finding some new shiny nickel drivers and linkers.
