# American Flyer 336 Tender Help



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

I am not very familiar with American Flyer but have undertaken the refurbishment of an inoperable American Flyer 336 with tender.

After a good deal of cleaning and some rewiring, the locomotive now operates as it should; forward, backward, smoke, choo choo and lamp all good. My question has to do with the whistle. 

The innards of the tender are as shown in the photo. When power is applied to the tender wheels by my Lionel 1033 transformer, the locomotive functions fine, as indicated. By ear, I can tell the speaker operates but no whistle sound is generated when the whistle control on the transformer is activated. Should I hear a whistle or is this what AF called an Air Chime Whistle that requires a special controller to operate? Can you tell from the photo if all the tender parts necessary for the whistle to function are present? Is there a parts/wiring diagram available for the tender?

Would appreciate your comments and advice. 

Thank you, swede


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

All of Flyer air chime whistles and diesel horns have to run the transformer power through the controller then out to track. Online at MyFlyerTrains.org is a section called Albums. Click on that and on the first page,4th group down is the factory service manual. Right side of the screen are sub albums. One is for whistles,should explain all your questions. It's a great website with lots of info. on Flyer Trains.


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## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Thank you for responding, Cramden. I found the site and agree it offers a great deal of information. There were two schematics covering AF's Hudson, Atlantic and Pacific tenders. All three show the same part numbers for a resistor and condenser used in the speaker circuitry. If the schematic actually pertains to my tender, it is missing the resistor. Specifications for the parts are not identified, however.

While waiting for someone to respond to my request for assistance, I contacted the owner to see if he had a whistle controller. He indicated he did not know the tender originally came with whistle capability, did not have a controller and did not need a whistle. He made life easier for me, but I still want to learn more about the chime whistle

swede


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

I don't know the specs for the resistor or the condenser.Notice the manual states to replace with know good units for testing. To be honest,none of the air chime whistles sound like a steam whistle, more like a buzzer. The owner would be probably happier with a whistling billboard. Glad I could be of some help.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

The 336 needs a air chime whistle controller. You can find them on ebay. They consist of a button controller, and a silver "tube" like thing on it. It sounds like your whistle wants to work, but you do need a controller. Your whistle button on your transformer will not operate it. If you want a nice sounding whistle, get a whistling bill-board.


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## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Thank you flyernut and Cramden, for your added responses. Although I won't get a chance to see if this whistle would or could be repaired to work, the learning won't be wasted.

I appreciate you and this forum.

swede


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

rrswede said:


> Thank you flyernut and Cramden, for your added responses. Although I won't get a chance to see if this whistle would or could be repaired to work, the learning won't be wasted.
> 
> I appreciate you and this forum.
> 
> swede


You're too kind my friend.. I'm a miserable old fart,lol!!!. If you hear a crackle or some other noise coming from your speaker when you power up the loco, chances are the whistle mechanism is ok in the tender. You just need the air chime controller... And when you blow the air chime for the first time, don't become too disappointed,lol!! That's how they all sound.. Get a whistling billboard, you'll love it..


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Your more than welcome. Of course, I could really make it confusing by mentioning the electronic whistle or the #710 steam whistle controller which IMHO is the best of the lot. Both are uncommon. I know just enough about Flyer to get myself into trouble at times.


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