# The Tender.....



## Stillakid (Jan 12, 2010)

The tender, 631 and switch came yesterday. I was more than pleased

The switch had a little bit of rust on the rails, and the base plate was very rusty. I thought for sure, I'd open it up and find a nightmare But, not the case! Aside from cleaning the contacts and some lube, it was like new!

I took my palm sander(getting lazy) to the base, and it turned out nice. It's waiting for a 2nd coat of primer, then finish coat. The pic shows the lamp cover off. I do have it and the lenses are perfect! It will need to be "spruced up", and I need bulbs for all my switches(strange bulb, looks like it's silver coated on the inside?)

The 631 was just as nice and other than cleaning the trucks and giving it a good, gentle washing, is ready to roll. I'd never seen weights attached to the trucks before.

The, "Gem" was the Tender. My first thought was that I would have to re-wire, so I got out my tools. I decided to test it on the temp layout, just to see if the e-unit advanced. Nothing As I reached down to take it off the track, a faint "click" So I picked it up and worked the lever a few times. I heard a sound like something hitting the side of the plastic shell. Shook it, and it sounded like a BB rattling around in there. Loosened the top, there was a hunk of solder the size of a BB I'm guessing whoever had wired this before, had no soldering skills at all. I'm thinking that it was stuck in the drum area, and I dislodged it. 

Closed it up, back on the track, it clicked like a champ! Attached the 290, off she went, chugging and smoking, in forward and reverse:laugh::laugh:

(there are also 2 pics of the door I made for the Marx Crane, windows are in the works)

All in All, a great day


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Jim,

Great finds/goodies. Tender looks to be in excellent condition. Funny about the "BB" solder chunk ... glad its now out.

In looking at your pics, I can finally (naive me!) see and understand how the AF couplers work ... I was looking at the coupler-only pics from Recker's "parts" ebay find, but didn't quite understand how they fit/work on the trucks. Your gondola pics clears that one right up!

And ... "door I made" ... sweeeet!

TJ


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## Stillakid (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks TJ! 
The door was a hoot Now the windows, well, that's a different story. I made one, but I'm not sure if I like it. And, I'm thinking that instead of gluing the doors and windows on, I may use some refrigerator magnets, that way if i don't like them, I can change without tearing up the paint.
Those AF couplers take getting used to


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

Jim, the door looks great! You've done wonders with that piece of equipment!

TJ, AF went thru a series of couplers, so I don't blame you for being confused. Originally they had the metal tabs with slots, then horizontal pins and hooks that fell vertically over them. After that, the same with weighted hooks, and then the introduced the first knuckle couplers. Finally, in the 60's, they went to pre-bankruptcy molded-plastic (Pikemaster) couplings, an abomination.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

As I'm learning a bit more about Gauges and Mfrs, it seems like EVERYONE has gone through their phases of coupler types. Lionel has prewar box, prewar latch, and postwar knuckle couplers. And of those, each has it's own variants.

On the HO side of things, there's my 1970's vintage horn-hook couplers, modern Kaydee knuckle couplers, protomax knuckle couplers, and everthing inbetween.

Completely confusing, if you ask me.

One of these days, I may just say "screw it" to all of them, grab the wire cutters and cut them all off, then grab a ball of STRING and just tie all of my cars together. Done ... simple ...

(Unless, of course, I need to back up a load of cars ... Hmmm ... Maybe somebody should invent a new type of coupler ...)

Dear Liza, Dear Liza ...

TJ


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> As I'm learning a bit more about Gauges and Mfrs, it seems like EVERYONE has gone through their phases of coupler types. Lionel has prewar box, prewar latch, and postwar knuckle couplers. And of those, each has it's own variants.
> 
> On the HO side of things, there's my 1970's vintage horn-hook couplers, modern Kaydee knuckle couplers, protomax knuckle couplers, and everthing inbetween.
> 
> ...



Soon you will have S gauge yourself TJ.:laugh:
That will make the king of S happy.

Hey Kid? Are you sure that the wire is big enough going to the tender?:laugh:

Man it looks all full big! Is that the way all American Flyer wire is? Or is that a rewire from the fool who also soldered it?
I never had any AF myself.


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## Stillakid (Jan 12, 2010)

*"Big Wire!"*

Big Ed, it's a mesh sleeve(kind of a loose harness) for the 4 wires going from the e-unit to the boiler


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