lionel 1033 undersized?

A 1033 should put out 16V at full throttle assuming 115-120 in. Its also rated at 5 amps which should be plenty for any modern DC powered engine even driving the smoke unit. 

Worth taking the cover off the 1033 to make sure all the contacts are clean including the circuit breaker and nothing is broken, for many years I used a 1033 for all my engines including a Vision Hudson. What you can't do with it is power an engine along with many cars with incandescent lamps. 

Pete

Thanks your guidance. I cleaned the contacts and still only get 14v. I have 120v coming in. 

Here's a schematic, the problem points are indicated by the arrows.

Put a load on the transformer, a couple of amps.  Automotive bulbs work well if you don't have any other load.

With the load in place, measure the voltage across the various trouble spots, somewhere you should find a voltage drop.  Also, if there is significant current flowing, that point is likely to be getting fairly warm, another way to track it down.  For that I use a little non-contact temperature sensor I keep in my toolbox.

I removed the cover and first thing I noticed was the drip of solder making contact with the plate underneath it. blue circle.   I put a small insulator (red line) between it and the solder and plate. I now have 15vs and the locomotive will move much faster!! But........ now the locomotive will move, stop start, lights on lights off, sounds on sounds off, all randomly from each other..

And the whistle still doesn't work. 

Here is a video.... No idea whats causing this 

Try unsoldering the diode at one end. That will eliminate whistle but you should be able to run the train. Maybe the diode is bad.

Pete

I disconnected it, same problem still.  

When I put my southern PS-4 on the track, it operates perfectly normal...

Do your other engines still run OK? Its starting to look like a problem in the engine.

Pete

edit, I see you tried that. Sounds like an engine problem.

I agree with Pete, if one engine is acting up, and the others run normally, I wouldn't be looking at the transformer at this point.

Yes they do.  

I watching the challenger for several laps. The stops and starts showed a pattern. Going into each turn, the lights and sounds would stop and the loco would dramatically increase speed. I sat with it on the track and noticed as I pulled the tender back and forth the lights would cut off and on. Pulled the tender apart and double checked all connections, reassembled and back on track. The speed, light and sound problem seems to have ended.  

Before you solder the diode back on, if you haven't already, check it with an ohmmeter to make sure its not shorted. Hopefully you will be good to go.

Pete

I left it disconnected. Need to purchase a soldering iron to reconnect. it looks like it got over heated at some point. there was a wrap on it that was black and burnt. I'm going to replace it at some point.

Thank you all for your help!!