For the sake of any newbies who may be following this thread:
(1) Fuses and circuit breakers are neither new nor novel. In particular they have not been introduced in recent years as "band aids", and have never been considered such at any time. They are a fundamental part of electrical safety and have been so since electricity was first harnessed in the 1800's. This is very, very mature technology and is depended upon every day in thousands of applications, in industry, transportation, offices, homes, and yes even toys.
(2) Safety does not concern only whether your locomotive or accessory quits. Your electric train has the capacity to, and very likely has in at least one case in the past, burn(ed) down a house, or at least started a significant fire. (If it hasn't, or couldn't, why would a safety organization like Underwriter's Laboratories (UL) be so involved with toy train transformers for all of these years?)
My apologies for elevating the discussion. This is not a political rant. These are hard-and-fast technical facts. (This forum has proven to be very helpful in disseminating the important technical facts if you just let it.)
M.H.M.
