Based on this additional info I put the resistor back to 1.5 Ohms, but also lowered the rectifier forward voltage drop to 0.1 Volts and the forward resistance to 0.01 Ohms. I also noticed that my load resistance was far too high. I had run the test with 22 Ohms, but had used 100 in the simulation, for reasons I cannot explain. I dropped it to 12 Ohms to get more load current. (We need enough current so that the voltage across the resistor is high enough to activate the rectifier.)
These changes did produce a small DC offset in the sinewave, but not much, less than 1 volt, which I do not think is enough to activate the whistle relay in a tender.
That brings up another question. What is the typical operating current of a Lionel engine? Perhaps 12 Ohms is still too high.
The Rev 2 circuit is attached.
