I’ve been collecting track from eBay and other sources and this piece of track was in the mix.
Is this factory Lionel track or a homemade piece. Either way, what is it? A “power on” indicator?
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Definitely an after market modification. Looks like a light to indicate the track has power. Probably was used on a siding.
That is factory. Was used in early Thomas sets for current draw to operate the whistle.
That's the sloppiest factory job I've seen, and they've done some dandies over the years! 
I think it was a last minute 'oops'. My guess is when Lionel was packaging up the first Thomas sets it was discovered that the transformer packed with the set wouldn't blow Thomas's whistle because there wasn't enough load on the transformer. The locomotive headlight would normally give the current load needed, but Thomas has no headlight. So a quick fix was needed to get the sets out the door. So they came up with the light bulb out the side of the track, as the picture shows. I think if they knew of the problem beforehand, they would have incorporated the light bulb in some kind of illuminated trackside accessory instead of a bare bulb.
@Chuck Sartor posted:I think if they knew of the problem beforehand, they would have incorporated the light bulb in some kind of illuminated trackside accessory instead of a bare bulb.
Or just stuck a resistor inside the locomotive. 
@Chuck Sartor posted:I think it was a last minute 'oops'. My guess is when Lionel was packaging up the first Thomas sets it was discovered that the transformer packed with the set wouldn't blow Thomas's whistle because there wasn't enough load on the transformer. The locomotive headlight would normally give the current load needed, but Thomas has no headlight. So a quick fix was needed to get the sets out the door. So they came up with the light bulb out the side of the track, as the picture shows. I think if they knew of the problem beforehand, they would have incorporated the light bulb in some kind of illuminated trackside accessory instead of a bare bulb.
Yup. Pretty much.
TRW
Thanks for the information. This is really interesting to me but I have no idea what’s going on here.
Why is the extra load needed on the transformer for the whistle to operate?
