I figure I might as well toss this out here-
I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach the project ZW I bought (among other postwar lionel goodies) around a month ago, and one of the stopping blocks for me is power cords.
It’s certainly far from difficult to find new “B-292” cords for sale, but I can’t bring myself to buy one. My honest opinion of them is “I’d rather buy a generic cord”.
I guess I’m just frustrated- I have a TW with the original cord and love the embossed Lionel logo it has. But the contemporary cords being sold as B-292s don’t feature this logo, and the ‘L’ that is there instead looks extremely out of place to me, for something that’s supposed to be a replacement for a postwar lionel part.
I can understand why that might be- I don’t know if there’s now new UL guidelines on what the shape a US ~120v plug can be, but I can see that as a cost saving measure Lionel would not manufacture any cords with special insignia-embossed plugs, opting for a simpler solution instead. And I imagine it’s very expensive to have your own specially embossed plugs made, whether or not they could be UL approved.
Thus, it seems these are my options:
-put my reservations aside, and buy a modern B-292 anyway
-buy one of the less plentiful, but still readily available MPC cords which still has an ‘improper’ logo, but looks nicer to me
-wait for a decent vintage cord to appear and then purchase it
-Modify a plug somehow with an insignia, inviting concerns over it being a safety hazard
Am I alone in being vexed over this lack of postwar-passable replacement cords? It’s a relatively minor detail, and for most people with a permenant layout, the plug is out of the way and under a layout where no one will see it- so I doubt it bothers anyone too much. It definitely bugs me though, silly as it may be!
[:D]