lionel rw transformer

[choo choo stevey]

I have a Lionel rw transformer with a speed control, a whistle and a reverse button. The transformer has 5 posts labeled  a, u, b, c, d.  My track is wired with the center rail to terminal U and the outer rail to A terminal. I am trying to hook up a whistle shed to the horn button and it doesn't work.  I tried terminal D and U and also Terminal C to U. Both times the horn just blows continuously.  Can anybody help with the correct wiring for this application, or is it even possible.

Thank You

[Roger Carp]

Please contact me at Classic Toy Trains.

 

Thanks,

 

Roger Carp

Senior editor

262-796-8776 ext. 253

[lionelsoni]

The whistle control on the transformer is intended to activate a whistle or horn in a tender or locomotive.  But your whistle shed is meant to be controlled by a momentary normally-open pushbutton switch, or by a control rail on the track, that will blow the whistle when the train passes over the control rail.

Your RW transformer can power the whistle if you connect one of the whistle's terminals to the RW's D terminal.  For pushbutton operation, connect the other whistle terminal to the pushbutton switch and from there to whichever other terminal of A, B, or C provides a suitable operating voltage.  For track operation, connect the other whistle terminal instead to a control rail, which is a section of one outside rail that is insulated from the rest of the rails.

You can also have it both ways, by connecting the pushbutton switch between the control rail and the other outside rail, or to the transformer terminal that the outside rails generally are connected to, which is the same thing electrically.  In this case you have no choice but to use whichever of A, B, or C that you have connected to the track.

The reason for using terminal D is to insure that the whistle is protected by the transformer's circuit breaker.

(When I first posted this, I wrote "RX" instead of "RW", even though I was staring at the RW schematic.)