First we’re talking about an 8 yr old playing with trains under the tree, something that has been repeated hundreds if not thousands of times, continues today, and hopefully continues for decades into the future. When this occurred in 1995 the ZW was a perfectly functioning transformer with a properly functioning overload breaker. In all the derailments my 3 children and myself have had, up until that point (I’ve been collecting trains since 1954), with any other manufacturers trains and this particular transformer, did a condition occur that created so much heat to cause something to combust. In addition, this same ZW never failed to trip with any Lionel, MTH, or newer K-Line cars before and after that recall event occurred.
I for the life of me don’t understand why any of you would want to question or downplay a national safety recall. Obviously K-Line agreed it was an issue otherwise they wouldn’t have come up with a fix in just a few weeks after my initial contact with them. If you doubt this issue exists, which based on responses many of you do, take a heavyweight, remove the fiber/plastic washers from both sides of the centering spring, apply power, create a short, and bask in the glow of a cherry red spring. As for the transformer, ZWs will continue to be used and a majority of them will never be modified with new breakers because people just don’t know nor are there readily available services to modify them. Do you really think a newbie or seasonal hobbyist knows that a ZW and a wire coat hanger can weld?
We all need to be ambassadors for our hobby, sometimes that means looking at things with fresh eyes not with dozens of years of experience, providing ACCURATE information to anyone seeking to enter this hobby or it will indeed die, that includes communicating the bad with the good.
