Thanks, all, for additional input. My 1033 came with no Lionel box or instructions, so thanks for telling me about the B-U posts = 0-11v! I need to make a note of that in my train notes txt file for future reference.
Twin-motors and me:
Not a problem. I don't have any interest in the larger near-O scale stuff. (i.e. Lionel F3's, Trainmasters, NW2, GP7/9, etc.) My interest is only in the traditional-sized postwar products that Lionel, Marx, and others, produced.
As for knuckle equipped equipment (Lionel, K-Line Classic, etc) , whatever I purchase will need to blend-in the 6464-sized boxcars, for I will NOT be using "scale" sized rolling stock at all. Zero. Nada. None. 6464 size will be the largest boxcars I will be using.
In fact, the "Hi-rail" approach is what did-in my 3-rail experiment. As long as I was using traditional sized trains, that center rail was part of the accepted scene. Once I started going toward Hi-rail with scale sized engines and cars... well... I learned I was trying to make 3-rail into something it cannot be for me. (i.e. A substitute for scale 2 rail trains.) Seeing scale trains on 3-rail track is when the center rail stuck out like a sore thumb to my eyes, and I lost my 3-rail mojo. 
For many, Hi-rail ("scale") is exactly what they need to do in order to find their 3-rail nirvana, others are fine with a mix of traditional or scale. My mental "givens n' druthers" rebelled against either approach when I started trying to incorporate the Hi-rail concept into my 3-rail preferences.
LW:
I may end up with an LW eventually, simply because. However IF I ever have a permanent 3-rail layout, my preferred control system will pretty much have to have the capability of wireless walk-around. I'm already spoiled to wireless walk-around in HO with my NCE DCC system. I cannot conceive operating an around the walls 3-rail layout with the stationary control panel approach in my modest 20' x 16' layout building that's currently housing my HO layout. I only want "traditional" in the size of the equipment... not the scenery, structures, and other such layout aspects, or for sure to be the only way of controlling them.
All fer now!
Andre
