Using a Lionel (or other brand) O or O27 transformer with HO or N scale trains

Here’s a good question: Can you use Lionel O or O27 transformers (or, for that matter, American Flyer S transformers) with HO or N scale trains?

The answer is, not directly. It will make a terrible noise if you hook it up. But you can make it work properly if you add a bridge rectifier. Look for one that’s 10 amps or more; don’t expect to have to pay more than a couple of dollars for one. Read more

Fun with multimeters

I’ve been going through A+ training as I have time. Whether I go through with getting the certification will depend on whether my bosses think having someone with an A+ lurking in the corner is useful–by contract I can’t do much more than swap a keyboard or mouse, but in the meantime I’m picking up some stuff I haven’t had to think about in a very long time.

One thing I picked up is the proper use of an ohmmeter or ohm meter.

Testing American Flyer track
Here I’m using a multimeter to test a piece of vintage American Flyer electric train track. I should get infinite resistance between the two rails, so this piece shows symptoms of having a short in it. On a good piece of track, my multimeter would read “1.”

Ohm meters measure resistance. Frequently, you’ll have a tool that does several things, so you flip your multimeter over to ohms or resistance to turn it into an ohm meter. Then, if you need to test a cable, put the red lead on one pin, and the black lead on the corresponding pin on the other side. If you get infinite or higher-than-expected resistance, then the cable is bad.

When you’re testing for continuity, you need to do so with the power off. Testing for continuity on a live system will cause the multimeter to malfunction at best, and at worse, blow a fuse. That’s a tricky bit you have to remember if you’re doing component-level testing on a board–something of a lost art these days. You might be testing voltage on a live system, then when you don’t see what you expect, you might want to test resistance. Be sure to remember to shut the system down when you switch from volts to ohms to avoid damaging your multimeter.

Measuring the voltage and amperage of your train transformer’s output

Sometimes you want to know how many volts your train transformer is feeding your trains, in order to avoid damaging the motors. And it’s also helpful to know how many amps you’re pulling from your electric train transformer, so you don’t damage the transformer.

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The difference between local and traveling train shows

I took my family to a train show–The Great Train Expo–this past weekend. I’ve been going to shows for about 8 years or so, and while we had fun, I ended up not spending any of the money I brought with me. At least not on myself. I think I have an idea why. There’s a difference between local and traveling train shows.
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2011 retail tinplate finds, at Big Lots and Shack

If you’re a tinplate fan like me, it would behoove you to make a trip to Big Lots sometime this week. Big Lots has a selection of building-shaped cookie tins priced at $5 each. The buildings include a town hall, post office, bakery, and general store. Additionally, my old friend Radio Shack is selling a building tin full of AA and AAA batteries for $10 until December 10 (it’ll be $20 after that).
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Fixing Lionel locomotives that run erratically and have flickering lights

If you have a Lionel electric train whose lights flicker and (possibly) runs erratically, I have an easy fix.
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Good news for Marx train enthusiasts

Kalmbach has decided, after more than a decade, to release a new Greenberg Pocket Price Guide for Marx trains (here’s my review). Although the O’Brien Collecting Toy Trains guides have a section on Marx, the Greenberg guides have always been more complete and more accurate. The most recent O’Brien guide from 2006 completely omitted Marx’s 3/16 line, a difficult flaw to overlook. That’s why the out-of-print Greenberg book from 2001 remained the standard for all these years and in recent years used copies commanded prices of $100 and more.
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Buy online, manufacture at home

The way we buy things (or don’t buy them) has changed a lot in the last decade or so. We stopped buying CDs. Now that our Internet connections are fast enough, we’ve really slowed down on buying movies, too. And the emergence of practical e-readers means a lot fewer people are buying books now too. All of this is part of the reason why there’s probably a Borders closing near you, and there are suddenly a lot less of what we used to call record stores too.

But there’s something even bigger looming overhead. 3D printing. Ars Technica has a piece about its legal implications.  Rather than rehash that, I’d rather talk about some of its other implications, including why you should care at all.

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Installing trucks on junker train cars

Sometimes a train car breaks, and sometimes you get a good deal on a train car that’s missing its running gear. Whatever the reason, sooner or later most hobbyists find themselves needing to attach trucks to the underside of their train cars, and if they’re like me, they soon find that using a regular nut and bolt doesn’t cut it–the nut works itself loose after a few times around the track, which leads to wobbly running, which leads to derailments.

There’s a solution other than expensive riveting tools, if you’re just interested in making cars run well, rather than restorations that are as historically accurate as possible. For about 15 bucks, you can get enough parts to do 50 cars.

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How to straighten bent prewar/tinplate axles

A common problem with prewar/tinplate cars, regardless of make (American Flyer, Ives, Lionel, Marx) is bent axles. If the car wobbles when it moves, one or more of the axles is bent.

Reproduction parts might or might not be available, so I prefer to just straighten the old ones.

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