Transformer help needed

Many years ago, being cautious and not wanting to risk my life or my Lionel KW, I asked an electrician friend of mine to look at replacing the KW's cord.  He allowed me to watch and was done with that part in 15 minutes.  He then offered to fix more of the "innards" that needed unseen work and I gladly accepted for the cost of a 6-pack of beer.

Long story short, check your yellow pages and call some electricians.  You might even find one with model railroad experience, but most any licensed electrician should be able to do cord replacement.

Chuck

Thanks Chuck, I'll give that a try!

You might try a small appliance repair shop.

Dale,

How would you recommend that the repair shop phases them?

Denny

Although seemingly bass ackwards, the de facto Lionel standard seems to be that a positive-going input on the HOT terminal of the AC line produces a negative-going output on the center rail terminal.

Test procedure:

1.  Connect the U or outside rail terminal to the neutral or earth ground.  This is the wide prong of the AC receptacle.

2.  Set the transformer's output for midway.

3.  With an AC voltmeter, measure the voltage between the HOT AC line terminal and the A or center rail terminal.  The voltage should be GREATER THAN the AC line voltage by about 10 volts.

Example - The line voltage is 117 volts, and the voltage from HOT to Center Rail is 127 volts = proper phasing.  A voltage reading of 107 volts indicates wrong phasing.

If you haven't verified your house wiring previously, you should test your receptacles with a simple plug-in outlet tester that checks for proper connections of the Hot, Neutral and Safety Ground terminals.  http://www.bing.com/shopping/eclipse-400-029-receptacle-tester-standard-outlets/p/3153415C2CA83C725012?q=ac+receptacle+tester&lpq=ac%20receptacle%20tester&FORM=HURE

Thanks Dale,

This was very helpful. Also, the 1033 and 1044 have A post as common and U post as variable.

Cheers

Denny

Yes, the letter designations do get swapped on many of postwar transformers.  Since we want to preserve the polarity at the track, the more important identification is "center rail" or "outer rail".

Most of the train parts dealers sell the appropriate cord without polarized plug so that you can phase transformer by turning the plug.  G

And, even if you have a polarized plug, the blades are soft and easily filed down to make a non-polarized plug.

How shocking, your reply, John