lionel TW transformer

[survivor]

hello all, this is my first post in this discussion group,i hope someone has some insight. i have an old lionel TW transformer...and a 671 S2 loco with prr whistling tender. this set has been around since the mid 50s when i was a kid, i remember the whistle blowing sharply,and the engine running so fast on a 4x8 layout, that sometimes it would derail on turns. recently,i drug the set out of storage,disassembled engine and tender,lubricated all moving parts...(with lionel lubricating oil and gear grease) .now,my question is this...i am familiar with the mixed AC/DC voltages this TW produces, to run train and blow whistle...now,when the whistle blows...the train slows down considerably...and,in all...the loco doesnt seem to have the umph it used to have pulling a light 5 car freight.now i would think looking at todays transformers...175watts  should be plenty of power for a small layout and mall train /car combo. i also have a few postwar NW2's.....they seem sluggish as well. i am running new tubular track, and i have checked and tightened all track/pin connections with track pliers. also have tried doubling up with lockons to even out power  to track. now this is small...a 4x5 layout...so i wouldnt think power should be a problem. is this old TW just 'givin up the ghost'??? is it possible its ac output is failing.....or maybe bleeding dc current in while train is running?...(note,sometimes whistle seems to intermittently tweak while train is running at full power)   any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks also i was looking at some new transformers,can anyone suggest  what wattage i would need for a loco on a small layout with no more than 5-6 freight cars? 

[Konga Man]

If you just pulled everything out of storage after decades, you may have a lot of routine maintenance to catch up on.  Unfortunately, it's often not enough to squirt a little lube in.

A thorough cleaning can make a remarkable difference in performance.   Example: I retrieved a bunch of early postwar equipment from storage at the ancestral manse.  It hadn't been run in years.  When I hooked it up, one loco (a 249)  would pull 5-6 cars.  I completely disassembled, cleaned, and lubed the axles/wheels on all of the cars.  Result: the same loco now pulls 15 cars with ease.  It's wasn't enough to just see if they spin by hand; the difference was a couple of revolutions vs. many.

You might also have at go at the loco itself.  Pulling the wheels to clean the axle bearings may be a bridge too far, but it's not unreasonable to remove and partially disassemble the motor to clean the commutator and shafts, then relube all gears, shafts, etc.  Don't forget to clean the wheels and pickups as well.

As a quick test, try rolling the loco along a piece of glass.  Do the wheels turn, or do they skid along?  If they skid, the engine likely needs cleaned and lubed; old, dried lube/dirt can create a tremendous amount of drag.

[TrainLarry]

  The TW transformer has two coils inside that are independent of each other. One coil is used to run the trains and has the variable output and whistle control on it, and the other coil supplies fixed voltage to power accessories. The coils can supply up to 60 watts of power each, for a total of 120 watts output power. The 175 watt rating is input power, and is always higher than output power, due to losses. Your trains effectively are running on 60 watts of output power.

  Concerning your lubrication, it seems you did everything, but you do not mention specifically if you disassembled the motors in your locomotives and whistle tender and cleaned and lubricated them. Also checked for worn brushes and springs. This is most important for optimum performance.

  For the train slowing down when you operate the whistle lever, are you moving it all the way over, as a compensating winding needs to be inserted into the output circuit to boost track voltage when the whistle is blowing. Possibly the whistle switch in the transformer is not being switched in. To check for this, lock the locomotive reverse unit in neutral, and then blow the whistle and watch the locomotive headlight. As you start to move the whistle lever, the whistle will start to blow and the headlight will dim. As you move the lever all the way over, the headlight will come up to full brightness.

  No DC voltage will "bleed" into the track circuit unless the whistle switch is stuck. If there was DC on the track, the whistle relay would chatter, or pick up, blowing the whistle. Momentary losses of power to the tender may cause the relay to chatter at times, which is what you hear. Make sure the roller pickup and wheels are clean, to minimize that effect.

Larry

[LL675]

l had a TW and even with regularly run well serviced equipment the TW just doesn't have enough juice. l traded mine for a 150 watt Type V and am very happy with it.