In my opinion, unless you are going to make many of them, just buy the Lionel part. To do it right you need a crimping tool with the CORRECT dies, or you are taking a pair of pliers or something to squeeze them.
Save money by skipping a few Starbucks, or maybe taking off the roof rack on your SUV, or inflating your tires to the correct pressure.
Some time ago I was giving that part away for free on the Buy-Sell-Trade when I finally saw the light, bought another PH180 and sold the KW. A PH180 is a modern UL-listed device. I am not implying that the part is worthless without a KW, for instance you could use that part to connect to an MTH transformer.
I've crimped a lot of them with the crimp tools available at Lowe's, etc. But the cords from Lionel are a good choice. I like to have a small stock of Molex, etc. available without having to wait a week.
