Thanks Dave! I was able to get a lockdown yesterday, and today I plan on figuring out how to install it. Maintenance & Repair and other forums, here I come! Seems like it should be pretty easy; wish me luck!

Gamera
Hello & Welcome to the Forum!

It's wonderful to inherit pre-loved trains, usually a little lubrication (i'm using mobil 1 synthetic these days), some spit and polish to make 'em look purty, give them some power and get into the "O" zone listening to the clickety-clack as they go round- round.

To add to Train Larrys' reply;
If you haven't yet, check out our Lionel Maintenance & Repair sub forum, a lot of good information there.

If you can't find a lockon or are jones-ing to run your trains, you can solder leads from the center rail and one from an outer rail to hook up to your transformer. if you don't have a soldering iron, you can jam the wire into the connection points on the rails, not estheticly pleasing, but it works in a pinch. If you know anyone that runs O trains, they might have an extra lockon they'll pass on to you.

Hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, please ask.

Happy Rails!
dave

Hi all! I mis-posted this in a different thread, JUST noticed this Beginner's Q&A forum, sorry! Below is my question, minus the pictures (upload folder is full lol). Pretty sure this will be a quick one and done trip to the train store in town, but confirming.

Hi all! Another newbie here; getting back into the model train scene after, oh, about 40 years. My dad and I had a Lionel set in the attic back in the late 70s. Those were good times. My father in law has passed his along to me and frankly I'm behind the times - my kids, 11 and almost 13, are expressing an interest and I don't want this opportunity to pass us by. I'm not sure what scale I have or what kind of track. I'm having trouble attaching pictures due to their size; thanks Samsung! What can or should I look at on the train itself or the track to help ID this stuff?

I need to know what kind of track this is, and what I need to get the transformer to work on it. There is a hobby shop in town, so I should be able to pick up whatever I need today. I'd like to have it up and running under the tree tonight.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Just from asking around at work, looks like all I might need is a specific piece of track fro those leads from the transformer to plug into. Can anyone confirm/deny before I look silly walking into the local hobby shop?