Williams Berkshire CW80 Issue

[EIS]

My Williams Berkshire (Southern) will not cycle out of neutral with a Lionel CW80 transformer unless I add a lighted car to the consist.  The electronics load of the Williams reversing unit is not large enough to drop the voltage on the CW80 to zero.  The Williams Berkshire is the only Williams engine I own where the light is off whenever the engine is in neutral.  I have two questions:

1) Is it normal for my Williams Berkshire to have the headlight 'off' in neutral or is my Berkshire wired incorrectly?  My other Williams engines have the headlight on in neutral.

2) How can I rewire my Berkshire to leave the headlight on in neutral so that it will cycle correctly with my CW80 without having to add a lighted car to the consist?

Thank You...
Earl Staley

[r0gruth]

I needed a larger transformer than the CW-80 for my Berk to go at all.Didn't notice the light problem since it wouldn't run.

[EIS]

If your Berk is a Williams, it may have been stuck in neutral.  Try a lighted car with the Berk and see if it works.  My Berk works fine with the CW80 when I added a lighted caboose.

Earl

[3rail]

Earl,

You are correct this is a problem with the CW80.  It only happens with steam locos because the light bulb goes through a voltage regulator.  An easy solution is to use a lighted lock-on or wire one of your house lights on your layout to the track.  For the light going off in neutral, take the shell off and plug the regulator board into the other 2 wire socket on the reverse board.  It sounds like it was plugged into the slave motor plug instead of the accessory socket on the board.

Regards,

3rail