Lionel motors, AC or "Universal"??

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Hi, a question came up on another forum about AC and DC motors. I mentioned that DC motors only would run on DC, but that AC motors could use either AC or DC power (although they couldn’t reverse polarity / direction the way a DC motor would on DC). I based this on my old Lionel trains that I had in the seventies, that were AC but ran fine on a DC MRC powerpack I used. (Later I converted some of them to DC with a bridge rectifier.)

Anyway, someone said no, AC motors only work on AC, Lionel engines must use a “Universal” motor that can run on either one?? Does anybody know if this is correct??

BTW I know DC is a problem if the engine has a horn, since Lionel horns IIRC were turned on by a shot of DC from the transformer, so in DC they’d always be on while the engine was running.

2

The old Lionel motors with the brushes and field coils are more properly refered to as Universal motors. They will run on AC and DC. If run on DC they can be made to reverse direction when the polarity is reversed simply by adding a bridge rectifier accross the brushes or field coil, which ever is easier. AC only motors are usually of the induction type and do not have brushes. DC only motors generally do not have field coils but use perminate magnets to generate the field.

3

I agree completely with OfflineHOSO&NZ