I'm using the -x option in the dbbackup command & according to the way I
interpret the ASA8 documentation I would assume the new transaction log
would be smaller than the original transaction log.

It's not and I'm wondering why not.

Here's what the documentation says:
==============
Delete and restart the transaction log (-x) Back up the existing
transaction log, then delete the original log and __start a new transaction
log__. This option causes the backup to wait for a point when all
transactions from all connections are committed.
==============

Here's the command I use:
dbbackup.exe -c dsn=MyDSN;uid=MyID;pwd=MyPWD; -x "c:\BackupTest"

The dsn points to a database in c:\Prime named MyDB.

The specs are:
c:\Prime\MyDB.db 11,000 KB
c:\Prime\MyDB.log 162 KB

After the backup c:\Prime\MyDB.db & c:\Prime\MyDB.log sizes are unchanged
which puzzles me whereas the specs in c:\BackupTest are:
c:\BackupTest\MyDB.db 11,000 KB
c:\BackupTest\MyDB.log 8 KB

I could really use a "leg-up" on this one.