I am working on restoring a Lionel set and the tender's whistle stays on constantly, as soon as I apply power to the tracks, not even touching the orange handle. I have a 1033 multi-control transformer that I recently did some work to, to keep the orange handle from dis-lodging form its place for switching and whistle. I replaced the wires for the middle track pickups because they were broken off. The engine runs okay after a few laps around the track, but seems to need help also. Can anyone help me out on this?
First you will need to determine whether the tender or transformer is at fault. I think its easiest to check the tender first. Remove the body and inspect the relay while it is sitting on it's wheels. Are the contacts touching? (they should not be)
Put the tender on a piece of track all by itself and turn the power on. Do not try to operate the whistle control. Does the relay close?
If it does, disconnect the wires from the tranformer to the track, and reconnect them using a pair of fixed voltage terminals. Does the relay close now?
If the relay closes when you apply power through the variable voltage terminals, but not when you apply power though fixed voltage terminals, then your transformer's whistle control circuit is not correctly set up.
I suspect the transformer is not at fault. Did you make any attempts to rewire the tender?
tinplatacis I suspect the transformer is not at fault. Did you make any attempts to rewire the tender?
According to his post, he has worked on both the transformer and the tender.
I replaced the wires from the roller pickups in the middle of the track. They were both broken off, and I soldered the new wires as they were before on the same contacts.
I will try that, thank you. When I removed the body after the first time on the track with the new re-wiring, the relay was open and did not close regardless.
Correct, I did my best to keep the orange switch/whistle handle form losing its hold between the spring/ t-shaped bushing/ circut board, by drilling as best straight thru the bottom portion wide area / flange of the t-shaped bushing and shaft and using a short lenght of a paper clip as a "cotter pin". I also connected/ soldered new wires for the middle track roller pickups on the tender. The old ones were broken off. I'm new to model railroading and I hope I am explaining eveything right.
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