Help: 1033 transformer: Fixed voltage C post is not a fixed voltage.

From the Lionel Service manual (on Olsen's CD)

Fixed voltages:

A to B if 5v

B to C is 11v

A to C is 16v

Variable Voltages:

B to U is 0v to 11v

A to U is 5v to 16v

BTW - I once saw, and thought I had but can't find, a chart that showed all the Lionel Postwar Transformers, the description of their posts/voltages, and which post was really "ground". Maybe someone who reads this can post this chart.

Here is the chart MED referenced.  There are several ways to hook up the transformer, the key is to know which post you are treating as the common/ground/outside rails.

The common or ground post goes to the outside rail.

If I were you, I would use the A post as the common/ground/outside rail.  Then U would go to the center rail for variable voltage.  C would go to your switches with fixed voltage.

To me it sounds like you were using U as the ground, getting variable at A and B, while the C connection may be a short.

Normal operation for the connections you have. You have "A" on lockon clip 1, and "U" on lockon clip 2.  You have it backwards.

"A" is the common post and should go to lockon clip 2 on all Lionel transformers, except those larger models that control 2 trains or more where "U" is the common.

I found the chart I thought I had - was also from the Lionel Service Manual on Olsen's CD. It lists all Postwar Transformers and how you can use the various post combinations of each transformer. @JD2035RR's chart is much clearer, but is for the 1033. Both @JD2035RR and @ADCX Rob point out to use A post as the ground/outside rail, and U as the center rail. The attached chart is not super clear, but has the same type of info for all the transformers.

Thanks for all of the great info.

You correctly diagnosed the problem I was having.  I had my U post connected as the common, and the A post connected as the hot wire, with the result that (according to the chart) the C post was not a fixed voltage post.  I switched the connections, and the train and switches now run great.    Strange that my engines seem to run more smoothly with the U as the hot wire and the A as the common.

Thanks again.

Mannyrock

Ah, the infamous switcheroo on the 1033 connections. You're not the first!

Ah yes the 1033 that came in a "billion" starter sets.  I am sure there have been endless threads about this U terminal "oopsie".   Of course I am sure the Lionel engineers had their reasoning but if I HAD been designing this, I would have renamed the A terminal G for ground, and renamed the U terminal V for variable that swept the FULL 0 to 16 volt range, not the split 0-11 and 5-16 (always wondered why as a kid I couldn't get trains to move faster at 11 volts, and with other connections trains wouldn't completely stop at stations but kept creeping). The B and C would be maybe 11 volts and 16 volts respectively.

But as I said I didn't design this and Lionels reasons no doubt lost in mists of time..

@Mannyrock posted:

Strange that my engines seem to run more smoothly with the U as the hot wire and the A as the common.

That is because the direction & whistle controls are on the "U" post.

@johnstrains posted:

Ah, the infamous switcheroo on the 1033 connections. You're not the first!

@rrman posted:

I am sure there have been endless threads about this U terminal "oopsie"

Not a "switcheroo" or an "oopsie", but the rule.

"U" goes to lockon clip 1 on all Lionel transformers(except those larger models that control 2 trains or more where "U" is the common).