lionel 2026 troubleshooting - Classic Toy Trains Magazine

Could be a number of things.  Do the drivers turn freely, that is no binding at all? since you've established there's power to the track, is there any change when the E-unit lever is rocked back and forth?

You may just have an E-unit's that decided to give up the ghost, your symptoms sound very much like what happened to a Lionel 224 I've got.

A good way to check if you've got an electrical meter is to take the boiler shell off the locomotive and meter the wiring to see if power's getting to the E-unit. If it's getting in, but not coming out, there's your problem.  Considering the age of the 2026 it's a definate possibility.

A quick fix, and what I did, is to remove the E-unit entirely and run the pick-up leads directly to the motor for forward-only operation.

In my case it was easy to tell, my 224 E-unit died in a shower of sparks!