Yes, Virginia, There Is A "Silver Chief"

  If you are at full throttle, you might need more power

   The lock on sounds like it is a thermal breaker being pushed to it's limits. It trips, cools, resets, reheats, repeat. Look for an amp rating. Maybe even an adjustment (hole?) it doesn't matter what size transformer you have if that breaker only floats 4a or something.

  You never told us what power supply you are using. (number & or watts and max volts 12vac-20vac)

  I don't see dimming really, just some uneveness. Adding a drop would bypass the breaker portion of the lockon fyi. 

  Moving the lock on around may reveal a "sweet spot".  A few inches one way or another matters sometimes.

  If fed at just one end, its going to happen.  The straight between the crosses would be my guess for best balance and one connection.

  Personally, I do power drops in the curves when I can to help even out running.

  The ultimate solution is command control.

Transformer says 17VAC with 20VA Max. Its usually set 3/4 of the way to keep it going. 

Command Control, a more powerful transformer and at least one newish locomotive that has all the features are on my wish list. My main desire is to have the smooth and slow pull-away I see in other setups. 

  Smooth pull away is mostly from command. Better power supplies and more/"fat" power feeds helps some though.

   20va at 17v is very small, about 30watts.(volt amp and amp are not the same thing) You really can't get much smaller. It's only about 2 amps.

  The smallest post war starter transformers were 25w at 15v I think (but a better duty cycle). The better ones 50w in a near identical common black or blue cases. I'd balk at under 100w because I run medium/large pw, but nearly anything would show improvement over 20va/17v imo. Step up wire size on feeds to 16g-14g too. 

  My advice, go big on power sooner vs later. Folks seldom complain about buying too much power later on.  (For now, looking for the sweet spot near center to hook power up just became very much more important for even running. Larger wire may help too).  

  If you must, a Z-1000, CW80 or 1033 or LW etc. will work for now, but none are ideal for command.

  Depending on the features you will most likely use most, choose a system. DCS can controll some Lionel TMCC, sans some features, but not visa versa. 

   Cost vs compatability vs features I that would actually use and not say "hey, neat" then forget about them, I leaned towards maybe buying a DCS, but I don't even own a single MTH engine.  My first two died within a year and my brother has lost half a dozen.  They haven't impressed me with quality overall. The system seems good though. (And dcs can control dcc decoders also, G/2 rail O/ho/N)

And check me on this....I think Legacy has some control over dcs trains now too (?). But agawin, control is likely limited across brand I think.

I can live with it for the season. Right now the main issue is wayward cats.... This is the first time set this why. Next year will be different. 

Since I plan on running four different trains on four separate tracks I know I'll have to get more power or more than one power source. Still researching, learning and formulating. 

Silverchief, that layout is too cool!

Agree with Adriatic, who knows his stuff.  I love DCS and highly recommend it for speed control around the curves, and on those tracks that run up and down.  I still run three conventionals on the table layout.  No matter how many power drops, they will all have issues with consistent speed in those situations.  Since most of us grew up with Lionel, we are used to the imperfect speed of conventional engines and it's not much of an issue.  The three are shown here, on levels 1, 2, and 3.

You might also consider Lionchief Plus.  I have three LCP's.  Two run on the fourth level main, one on level three.  They are relatively inexpensive, have complete speed consistency around those curves, and are controlled with a handheld remote.

The LCP that runs from level 3 to level 4, has perfect speed up and down that ramp.

The NH EP-5 and UP GP-20 are DCS controlled, MTH engines.  Perfect speed control around the curves and up and down the two levels.

Just some ideas for you...

Jerry