Lionel Strasburg #89 Engine Derailment Issue! 

Gunrunner John is a wizard

Great job Sean. I can’t imagine the frustrations you had with this locomotive, including Chris from RBP Train as well as others that own these types of locomotives. Gunrunner John came through in the clutch with his knowledge. The people at Lionel should take note of this. Where’s the Quality Control Team at Lionel? You hear of too many instances like this. You spend a lot of money on something that doesn’t work well, or isn’t compatible with its own product is not acceptable. I’m glad your that you fixed it, but having to spend more money on a competitors part, plus the shipping to fix your expensive locomotive should never have happened.

Great tutorial Sean! You are a Master at problem solving. Keep doing the great work that you do! 🚂

Great job Sean !! I hope Lionel sees this video

This will definitely help a lot of people. Glad you were able to find a fix.

Great Sean… really good info. And thx for the part number.

Great info. Thanks for sharing!

Nice fix Sean, great sounding Train.

Excellent information, thank you!

I had all kinds of issues with switches and traction tires. My solution was eliminate engines with traction tires. Now I have all metal wheels just like the real 1:1 scales has and working fine. For Lionel non derailing switches lead trucks that are not both metal (diesels) did not activate switch for no derailment. Nice a tire change fixed your issue.

Great video highlighting derailments caused by a traction tire and flange height problem . You , gunnerjohn, and the ogr forum are the best. You are exceptional Gary

Thanks Sean

Great result in correcting such an annoying problem that shouldn't have been, Sean. It's great when there is always someone who has found a solution to a troubling issue. What to me is an issue that shouldn't have been! Lionel has been very lax in quality control over the last few years, so much so that I know of former avid collector who has completely stopped buying recent product offers. He was quite adamant about his frustration with all the product failures he experienced. Had enough!

Nice job sussing this out and fixing it!

You have a really nice layout and train room. Thank you for taking the time to share your problem and solution. I'm glad you were able to solve the derailing!

Great catch!! What a labour of love layout!!

Excellent Video!!! I have this engine and will check tonight. Can't help but wonder if the factory took it upon themselves to do a substitution in production 🤔

Hello Sean, I just finished test running my new #89 on just a loop of Fastrack and it ran beautiful. I am so happy you posted this video and I watched it before I put the engine on my layout that has plenty of Fastrack switches. I mean UPS dropped this engine off less than an hour ago. I ordered the MTH traction tires even before I posted this comment. Thanks again for saving me and hopefully others from the headaches this would have caused. Your videos are awesome, keep up the great work.

Awesome Sean you got your engine fixed!!!

Great video. Great fix.

I appreciate your sharing both the problem you had and the fix. I have one of the new Moguls but have yet to take it out of the box. I will cross my fingers and hope mine does not have the problem, but if it does, I now know the fix thanks to you and Gunrunner John. Thank you! Bill B.

Great tip and video - will definitely be ordering the tires and I'm relieved I'm not the only one experiencing the derailment issue!

Looks like a neat little engine, I'm glad you had issues resolved, mth to the rescue!

I must have gotten lucky with mine Sean. It is running good over my O-72 switches.

Sean Lionel’s quality control is horrible. I just purchased a brand new ZW-L that barely puts out 15 volts! Talked to Lionel and they told me to send it back but it will take 8 to 10 weeks to diagnose the problem and repair it. Horrible

My understanding is that Lionel got arid of their test loop track and don't test trains. Just something I read somewhere.

I have the conventional 2-6-0 from 2011 and never never had that problem. Quality control at Lionel is lacking even more now than ever. My layout is Fastrack.

I thought most steam engines had the traction tires on the rear wheels. My Lion chief 2.0 GG1 4877 from 2020 runs great just don't try to change the traction tires, they are a pain. I had take it to my LHS to replace 4 tires .

A fine "how-to" Sean, for something that's quite frankly inexcuseable. For the money spent that engine should work perfectly. I'll tell you, I HATE traction tires! When the things wear out and if the engine doesn't miss them I leave the things off! Mind you my layout's small (4X8) so I can't run super-long trains anyway but that being the case the modern engines I've got are heavy enough to pull the consist without tires. And I can just imagine the screams if #90 shows up with the same problem! I realize that quality control's going to be an issue when the product's made on the other side of the world but Lionel had better remember the Golden Rule of Retail: "It takes months to find a customer but only seconds to lose one!"

Least you got it fixed Sean.

Sadly, Lionel trains quality is not what it used to be.

Ya, that would really frustrate me too. I’m glad that most modelers work together and share info and you were able to get this fixed with not a lot of effort. Lionel should do a recall or just send out FREE tires along with FREE shipping upon a request.

i wonder if Lionel knows about the problem and that there is a fix for it. It's a shame that you had to go through that on a seven-hundred-dollar engine but i'm glad that you were able to repair it with Gunrunner John's suggestion.

I think the fix is to move the traction tires to the rear drivers 🤷‍♂️

There are always problems with Lionel engines.

Aren't the traction tires usually on the back set of drivers?

Of course you're having problems with your new locomotive it's a new Lionel.

The 11268 actually looks a lot more formidable. Sorry.

I got the new tires and I noticed they had a lot less grip than the Lionel ones, so much less in fact that it can barely handle my Strasburg cars

by chance , is the front pick up roller causing an issue

That’s…. Embarrassing.

Lionel engine that requires MTH parts to make it work! Hmm!