Hello Everyone
My short story. I have returned to model trains after a 3 decade absence when I became a dad last year. Some of fondest memories of childhood were spending hours with my grandfather and uncle who both had pretty decent sized layouts. When both men passed, their layouts were carefully broke down and packed away. As mentioned, when I became a dad, I felt responsible to passed this joy on to my son. I cautiously unpacked each crate and cleaned things up piece at a time. All of the old transformers looked to be degraded beyond repair (frayed wires, cracked housing, etc.). I purchased a Lionel CW-80 transformer from a local store and was able to clean up enough track to get a small oval layout running with some lighted accessories. My son was enthralled. Even as a little guy, he would watch the trains passionately.
Yesterday was his birthday and I promised him that he could be pick out a locomotive for our small but growing layout. He and I spent some great father-son time in the train store looking at the various options. He finally settled in on a diesel Union Pacific. It is MTH Railking SP-3. When placed on the track, the light goes on and sounds come out but the engine doesn't move. In doing some searches on the forum, I have seen that there are difficulties with MTH-Lionel compatibility. I explained to little man that daddy needs to do a little work on the train.
My question to the esteemed forum is whether this is a complete incompatibility requiring return of the MTH and purchase of a new locomotive or is there a fix possible. Please keep the technical terms on the basic side given my newbie status.
Thanks for the help from a struggling daddy
