Can the Lionel Bump & Go trolleys be run in a more traditional manner, i. e. forward/reverse not determined by contact with the bumper? I'd like to control with a transformer alone. Thanks, Paul
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Sure, they'll run in whatever direction the bumper sets. It won't respond to the typical FNR of a transformer however.
If the modern Lionel bumper trolleys use DC can motors, you could just run DC track voltage, then rig something to reverse the polarity at the end of the run. Azatrax has optical sensors/switches that can accomplish this. They're at http://www.azatrax.com
Soxfan posted:... I'd like to control with a transformer alone.
I assume you mean an O-gauge AC transformer with the DIRECTION button to cycle Fwd-Neutral-Rev-Neutral. If "control" includes direction, you could bypass the sliding bump-activated reversing switch in the trolley with an electronic reversing unit board (2 wires AC in from track, 2 wires DC out to motor).
If you can operate this the only device on the track, you can hook the track voltage directly to the DC motor (again bypassing the bump switch) and use an HO DC transformer. HO transformers have a direction switch on them which changes the polarity of the voltage on the track and hence the direction of the trolley's DC motor.
Some of the older Lionel Trolleys use the AC Pullmor motor. You could replace the bump and go switch with a reversing unit.
The reversing unit would be a 2-position, not 3.
