Follow up:
* Found online scans of all the pages of Lionel's "manual" for the 1033. (The internet is amazing.) Downloaded and filed.
* Took my 1033 out to the workbench in my layout building and hooked it to a short stretch of straight track sections and presto: That Lionel durability came through some 60 or so years after manufacture! Throttle rheostat works great. Direction lever works great. Testing the whistle circuit will have to wait until I have a whistle equipped engine, though.
* Ended up having to purchase a batch of Marx track to get what I wanted, but that's fine.
SO... when the track arrives, as soon as practical my little 999 will be purring around an oval or figure 8 shortly thereafter. Now I have a decent little pack and track on the way, I'm all set to start watching for my first Lionel engine to purchase in a long time. Sort of leaning toward one of the Baldwin boiler Hudsons, but it could be a set of cast or stamp frame FA's... it will depend on what turns up in a condition, and a price, that I can't pass up. Obviously, I would like for either a Hudson or FA to have a whistle/horn, though, anxious to check the whistle circuit on my little yeoman 1033.
All fer now!
Andre
