A friend has perma-lent me his Lionel set, which I'm trying to set up for my grandchild. TW transformer. Engine runs moderately well on some of the track, stalls on other parts. So I assume I've got voltage drops and want to test the track. But my voltmeter shows less than one volt output directly from the A and U posts (and trying the voltmeter both ways), even at maximum. I've tried the voltmeter on two 1.5 batteries in series and it shows 3 volts, so I don't think it's the meter. But the train seems to be running too well to be getting less than a volt. Any thoughts? Thank you.
You need to set your meter to read AC voltage, which is what transformers output. Batteries are DC voltage, and that is what your meter is set to read right now.
You need to add more lockons at various points on your layout wired to each other ("daisy chained") with heavy gauge wire to eliminate voltage drops. Make sure your main power feed from your transformer to track is using heavy gauge wire also.
Larry
Yes, sorry. I don't know why I assumed it was so clear it should be DC, without even reading into it. It now reads fine. Thank you.