Have you opened the loco up to check whether some bits of carpet have got stuck in the mechanism?

Kind regards,
Carim

That might be a possibility.

Another thing to check, are you running on carpet? What are the possibility of a piece of fluff getting into the connections between the track pieces?

Just where is the loco on the layout when you are pressing down and getting a response? If it is on the track piece that the controller and power supply connect to then check to see if the connections to the ms2 and power supply are making good contact. Also wiggle them while plugged in to check to see if there is a break in the wire.

If you have the sort of box that has a pair of wires going to the track to make connection, are the little lugs pushed onto the track connections properly? They can be a pain to push on I have found.

No. How much of it and what parts would I take apart? I have the manual that shows all the parts and how they go together, but I'm leary of taking the whole thing apart. But I will if I have to.

Patty

Hi, Patty!
That's how it should be.
BTW: brown wire has to go to 0, red wire to B. Older locos will not work if wires are reversed.
It's too simple to connect the brown wire to B.

Hi,

The first thing I do when I get a new Set from Marklin : Clean the Track with Lighter Fluid ( don' t smoke or have Candle's light ) you may also use rubbing Alcohol.

Clean the Wheels of the Locomotive with the same.

It is part of Manufacturing that the Track gets a film of OIL or Solvent on it and it helps if you clean the Track before Use. This Oil gets also on the Wheels of the Locomotive and then you can have poor contact and the Locomotive may/ will run erratically .

Use your Finger and run them over the Track if you get a Dirty/Black Finger your Track needs cleaning.

Regards Martin

Tom - we live in the high desert, so humidity is not a problem here. Plus the train is set up not far from our gas fireplace, which heats our house. So I feel confident that I can rule that one out.

Thank you for that explanation, Mike. I was a bit confused when Tom mentioned it, but this clarifies it. Yes, my tracks are set up correctly.



Now that you mention that, my husband did comment that prior to the train not working (the evening before, I believe), the MS2 had "forgotten" the train, and would not run it. But when I started it up later, it was recognizing it again. I think he just pushed the wrong button, and moved the setting to the next train, which was empty. So I doubt that affected anything, but who knows?



I'm not sure if you mean the mechanism and lights of the crossing or the locomotive, but I checked the crossing, and the lights flash as soon as power is put to the track, and stay on no matter if the loco address to pointing to an empty slot or the actual locomotive.

After trying everything I can possibly think of, and trying everyone's suggestions, I have decided to return the crossing, and get something different. I'm not happy with how it works, not to mention the constant blinking.

Back to the locomotive, this morning, with the crossing gone, the loco worked fine. I put the crossing back in the setup, and the loco stopped working until I gave it a bit of a push down, then it started up again and kept going until I stopped it. I took the crossing out, and it still didn't want to start until I gave it a push to get the power connecting. I'm hoping that cleaning the loco thoroughly will fix this problem. If it doesn't, you'll hear from me again when we get the base to our layout up and the tracks set up again.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your input! I would have been totally lost and frustrated without it!

Happy New Year!
Patty