Lionel 1033 short circuiting

[guitarman1994]

Howdy all,

Earlier, i was running my old Marx 999. I went upstairs to do a couple things. I came back down and the engine was not running. I found that the front truck and come off the rails.  It was hot to the touch. Then I went over to the 1033 and the metal plate on top of it burned my finger. I took off the orange handle and some smoke came out. Would there be any internal damage?

Thanks,

Brody

P.S. I feel stupid for leaving my trains like that.

[lionelsoni]

If it still works, you may not have let too much smoke out...;-)  But you should consider the likelihood that the circuit breaker is bad.  It should trip at about 5 amperes.

[guitarman1994]

It still works like it did before. How do I tell if the circuit breaker is bad?

Brody

[lionelsoni]

The simplest, crudest test is to turn the voltage up and short-circuit the output terminals--but you've already done that, and it flunked!

I suggest that you buy a 5-ampere automatically-resetting circuit breaker, like those sold at automobile parts stores.  Connect some small lamp directly to the transformer, then put the new breaker across that.  Turn the transformer up and see which circuit breaker trips first, the internal one (the lamp will not light when it trips) or the new, external one (the lamp will light when it trips).  If the external one trips first, that suggests that the internal one is bad.  You can look for a replacement that matches the original, or just install the one you tested.  But a quick and dirty fix that is as safe as anything is just to wire the new breaker externally in series with the transformer's output.  Come to think about it, you could do that in the first place and forget about the test if you want to.

[TrainLarry]

  The internal circuit breaker is located on the top of the transformer, that is why the top of the case was hot. As far as I have researched, a direct replacement for the internal breaker may not available. An external breaker wired as Bob suggests would be the option to pursue.

Larry

[rrlineman]

Harry Hanning's in Lansdale PA (HENNING"S HOBBIES) has replacement breakers that go inside and comes with complete instructions on how to do it. the run around 8 bucks with shipping.

Mike