Hello All.

I just bought my first PF motor to power my Horizon Express, and after buying brand new batteries at the store put them into the train, put the engine on the tracks (to see if it worked before giving more weight to pull with the passenger cars) and now I'm disappointed because the motor seems to have a problem. I can't manage to get the engine to go very fast at all and then the motor just stops, like it will work for 2s and then stops. Has anyone else experienced this?

Also, can someone explain what are the little black levers on the remote (8879) that are just above the four studs?

Thanks you all in advance (and I apologise if this doesn't belong in the general train forum)

The little black levers are for setting the direction of the motor.

What kind of batteries are you using?

Well I don't know for sure but mayby it is just broken.

Have you tried the motor when you just connect it to the battery box (without receiver in between them)? That way you can just test the motor, and you know whether the problem lies in the motor or in the receiver.

Do you have the motor hooked up to the IR receiver and the IR receiver to the battery, in that order?

Have you verified the plugs are all firmly seated? (They sometimes need a little force on them)

Have you verified the wheels are freely turning and are not rubbing on anything?

The black switches above the remote dials reverse the signal polarity. Turning the dial right can make the train go forwards or backwards depending on signal polarity.

--Tony

thank you everyone for your answer, I took out all the batteries and put them back in, and reinstalled the cables, and it seems to work fine now, maybe a bit of dust or something was stopping it from functioning correctly

You'll find that Power Functions takes a little more effort than the old 9v system, but there is so much more potential..

If you can afford the rechargeable battery kit rather than the AAA box it makes things a little easier as well, no more dismantling models to change batteries, and about the closest thing you'll get to having mains powered..