I'm fairly certain my first set (Christmas 1958) didn't have a transformer. I think we used the one from my Tri-ang train set. My set was a figure-of-eight but with a crossover with a huge dead section in the middle so a good run was needed to cross it. I remember being allowed to take it to school a few months later and being the envy of the class!
Floydfan
Floydfan