Yeah, they can get roasty-toasty. High-voltage step-up power transformers are inherently less efficient than their low-voltage cousins, and the circuits they run are also less efficient, meaning that they draw more constant power from the transformer, and also heat up the environment in which the transformer operates. Gives everything that "classic" smell.
I've heard from a couple of sources that "back in the day", a common way to figure out how much money could be saved in the power transformer was to build a few prototypes and get them running under actual conditions . . . then start removing laminations until the transformer got as hot as possible and still be "within spec" for the temperature rise!
I've heard from a couple of sources that "back in the day", a common way to figure out how much money could be saved in the power transformer was to build a few prototypes and get them running under actual conditions . . . then start removing laminations until the transformer got as hot as possible and still be "within spec" for the temperature rise!