Good day John: Progress has finally reared its ugly head on this project; my 2793 now runs/smokes and talks again, actually it runs MUCH better than stock. I plugged the remaining IR tether wire into pin 3 on the J1 harness 3rd Rail supplied and it seems to like that.
My final question concerns the headlight; it appears to be a grain of wheat bulb; do you know what voltage Lionel would typically use in this application? My gut tells me it will have a very short life connected direct to track power.... That 5VDC regulator may come in handy after all.
Thanks for all your technical support!
Larry