Hi all and Happy New Year,

I am a new forum member having been out of the hobby for about 20 years. I've been inspired once again to get back into the hobby. I recently purchased a like new Marklin 33961 Tank Locomotive. The train looked great when I received it but I did a thorough cleaning anyway. After cleaning it I ran it on a simple oval layout just to make sure it functioned properly. I'm old school and am running a 6021 Control unit with a 6001 transformer on M-track. Right away the motor made a squealing sound and would hesitate momentarily as it ran. A quick online search led me to issues with the brushes so I purchased and installed new ones. While this significantly helped the issue it did not eliminate the squealing entirely. It is worse when I run the locomotive in reverse or when I'm pulling a load of approximately 5-6 cars. I really like the look of this model and would hate to have it idle in the yard. My last resort will likely be to send it to a authorized dealership for repair. Before doing so, are there any other inspections or fixes that I can apply to remedy this issue?

Thanks,

MD

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that when I cleaned the locomotive I did oil it sparingly per the service instructions. The squealing is not constant but more of a "chirp" sound accompanied by a brief hesitation in motion. Very hard to describe.