I just bought an AC voltmeter to test my track voltage. I put a wire on each terminal of the voltmeter, and connected 1 to the center rail and 1 to the outside rails. When I power up my transformer voltmeter doesn't change. Am I doing this right or am I missing something? I've never used a voltmeter before.
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Are you sure you got an AC voltmeter? All the analog AC meters I've seen will have a "~" squiggle symbol near or below "V" label. You might try hooking up a 9V (DC) battery or the like to see if you might actually have a DC meter. 
The symbol for DC is a horizontal line with three dots below it. I don't see any markings on this meter other than Ohms. It could be an Ohm meter only and that is why it is not measuring AC voltage.
Guys, thanks for the replies! I bought it on EBay. Earlier I put one contact on the + of a 1.5 volt battery and the other on the - and it showed 1.5 volts.
Stan, you confirmed what I thought might be going on. I tried a 9 volt battery and, yes, 9 volts just now. I told him I thought it might be a DC voltmeter. He just refunded me the money with no explanation.
I guess I'll have to look harder for one like you have pictured. Thanks guys.
Larry,
That's what I ordered on EBay but they sent me the DC one instead. Thanks for a stateside source, though -- a few buck more but probably more professional and reliable.
You can buy a nice DVM on Amazon for less than $12. https://www.amazon.com/Multime...gid=pla-897758219168
@RON ARNDT 091718 posted:The symbol for DC is a horizontal line with three dots below it. I don't see any markings on this meter other than Ohms. It could be an Ohm meter only and that is why it is not measuring AC voltage.
The ohm rating is the impedance of the meter, 99.9% sure it's a DC meter. It's very common for the eBay sellers not to know what they're selling. 
If/when you add both volt and ammeters to the layout, they connect like this:
Thanks, Rich!
Voltage is measured across the load
Amperage is measured through the load
Thats why you got a Volt reading on the battery.
To get the Amperage (Current) reading of the battery, you will need to “put the battery to work” and measure the FLOW in SERIES between the battery and what ever the LOAD is.
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