About This Item

Every Stalin-era and Khrushchev-era train set produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950's and 1960's included a wiring harness consisting of precut, color-coded wire separated into two cables and two small "pigtails." Cable No. 1 looks like spaghetti and is used to connect the various accessories to the track. The ends of each wire on Cable No. 1 are "banana-plug" type pins for insertion into the corresponding sockets on Cable No. 2, on accessories and on certain sections of track. Cable No. 2 looks a bit more civilized and is used to provide power from the transformer to Cable No. 1. One end of each wire on Cable No. 2 is a "C" clip for attaching to the proper transformer terminal and the other end of each wire is a socket for acceptance of the corresponding "banana-plug" type pins in the proper color-coded section of Cable No. 1.

The two small "pigtails" are used to connect the flagman to the proper section of track and to the correct wire in Cable No. 1. Proper installation of the wiring harness is facilitated by paper tags connected to the cables by string. These tags identify the number of the track section and the name of the accessory. The wiring harness was first made in 1951 but it is unknown when production ceased. It is possible that it was produced as late as 1969.

Photos of the wiring harness
ABOVE: Cable No. 1 (connects to the track)
ABOVE: Cable No. 2 (connects to the transformer)
ABOVE: Small "pigtails" (connects the flagman)

Variations

There are apparently no differences in the wiring harness that was included with the Stalin-era sets versus the Khrushchev-era sets.

This page is an information document only; nothing on this web page is being offered for sale. This page and all of the other pages from Our Soviet Archives were developed to assist you in understanding the components of the train sets produced in the Soviet Union during the 1950's and 1960's. These sets are known today as "Stalin-era" sets and "Khrushchev-era" sets. We have used pictures from our old files and personal collection to construct this area of our website. If you are interested in buying something, please view our inventory listings to see what we currently have for sale.

This web page was last updated on September 11, 2005. If you have suggestions for improving this page or if you see any errors, please contact us.