Hello,
I own a Lionel 4-4-2 with railsounds in the tender. Last year I put it in storage, but after I took it out of storage this year to run for chrismas. I noticed as I sent it around the tree that there where no sounds from the engine at all, just the strange grinding sound from the motor. I made shure railsounds was on, yep it was on. The next time around I watched it, There where sparks coming from every direction shooting out and around the drawbar inbetween the engine and tender. I later deduced that the tender and engine share electronics through the drawbar and that something was not isolated right. I held the engine in place and fired it up, suprise, all those sparks where coming from the circut board in the cab and the drawbar inbetween the engine and tender. I also found that the tender is reliant on the engine to be hooked to it to make sound. It worked fine a year ago, what happened and is there a way to fix it?

Check to see if BOTH tender trucks have the insulated wheels ON THE SAME SIDE. Also, check that the circuit board wiring isn't grounding on the tender frame, or engine frame.

Check to see if BOTH tender trucks have the insulated wheels ON THE SAME SIDE. Also, check that the circuit board wiring isn't grounding on the tender frame, or engine frame.
Howdy Y3a,
On Lionel, the outer rails are grounded together, and the wheels on both sides are uninsulated. But you're probably right about the reverse unit circuitboard in the engine being incorrectly grounded.

jimmyp4,
Find what's causing the circuitboard short in the engine. That should fix it, unless the short fried the sound electricals, in which case you'll have to get the loco to a Lionel service station.