Lionel Cab 1 Remote

@Pup posted:

Does anyone know what the plug on top of the Cab 1 Remote is for?

The big red button http://www.lionel.com/products...trol-button-6-12890/

The purpose was to give children a big red button to press that does an action.

"Simply connect the Big Red switch to CAB-1, press the pressure-sensitive switch, and the last command issued by your CAB-1 hand held controller is automatically dupli-cated. "

The instruction manual https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ents/71-2890-252.pdf

Any single pole pushbutton will fill in if you don't want to hunt down the big red button.

Thank you Vernon

We used a large momentary button at a show years ago so youngsters could sound the horn of a running train.  The observed behavior was the kids would press the button constantly.  It was quickly unplugged.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Any single pole pushbutton will fill in if you don't want to hunt down the big red button.

Just wire an 1/8 inch phone plug to the switch??

Yep, just a contact closure does the job.  You could even use a simple Relay RF remote to have a remote "Big Red Button".

The origin of the Big Red Button is a very touching story. It was designed to allow Neil Young’s son Ben to repeat whatever action was just performed on the remote from his wheelchair.

An update to the March 1993 Roger Carp article is archived here:

https://m.neilyoungarchives.co...il-And-Bens-Railroad