Lionel E-Unit in neutral

Should not be a problem. The E-unit is a solenoid that pulls in when track power goes on and a hook on the solenoid core grabs a tooth on a small barrel type rotary switch and gives the switch one turn. The switch is wired "forward neutral reverse neutral...." so each time you power up, the locomotive changes direction, or stands still. As far as the E unit is concerned, it doesn't matter what state the switch is in, forward neutral or reverse. His solenoid is energized whenever track power is on and that doesn't bother him at all. The E-unit was invented to reverse the AC motors of Lionel locomotives, way back before semiconductors, decent rectifiers, or even decent permanent magnets. The neutral position was intended for operating track powered accessories and turnouts, just like you intend to do. Neutral also allowed a train to stand in the station with the lights on, but not moving. The ZW transformer is a real beauty, lots of juice to run long heavy trains at full speed, could handle 4 trains at once. I've seen people ask $500 for one in working condition. It was much better than the humble KW that I had as a boy. I don't remember my locomotive numbers well enough to recognize the 2234 number. The two great NYC locomotives were an AA set of F-3 diesels painted in the gray NYC lighting stripe design and the Hudson steamer (4-6-4) a long big and lovely locomotive. Either of them are real keepers.

David Starr

EMcDonough wrote:

Yes

No.

Here is a pretty good web site I found that has quite a bit of info on post war Lionel stuff. You could look up all of your stuff & get an idea of when it was made, how it's supposed to look & what it's supposed to do.