# Made a 360/361 into one helluva awesome pulling machine



## ChopperCharles (Jan 3, 2012)

This is how I converted my Dual motor 360 (and 361 dummy) to be a really useful, well-running operator that can pull damn near anything.

Step one: electronic reverse unit. Even after rebuilding the original reverse unit, it still didn't work as nicely as it does with this thing. It's got two relays in it, and dated 1984, but it works wonderfully.

Step 2: Wire a Williams sound board into the B unit shell, instead of the crappy AF doorbell buzzer.

Step 3: WEIGHT. The B unit especially needs weight, becuase if you try and pull a long train around a curve, it will derail. I used wheel weights stuffed into the hollow truck shells, and some stuck to the underside of the chassis as well. The A unit got a square tender weight stuck to the bottom side with foam tape. It fits perfectly, and you can't tell it's there during operation.

Step 4: 8-wheel power pickup. I wired the B unit and A unit power wheels together. The two units are already attached together with a fiber bridge thingy (no idea what to call it), instead of couplers, so the A unit can't be used without the B unit attached. 

Step 5: Bullfrog snot on four wheels. I put it on the non-power-pickup wheels (left two on the front, right two on the rear), and it no longer spins the drivers from a standing start. It just goes. 

So now I have a really great runner. The only thing I'd change, is if I can find a dummy A unit, I would swap the dummy A unit's shell (with front coupler) onto the powered A unit, and swap the brush wires so it starts in reverse instead of forward. Then have the powered unit push the unpowered A and B units, and pull the rest of the train. I could then eliminate much of the weight from the unpowered B unit, which will allow me to pull even more cars.

Unfortunately my shells look like ****. Any ideas on a new paint scheme? Something not too difficult to do with spray bombs. I've never been a big fan of Santa Fe anyhow... 

Charles.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

ChopperCharles said:


> This is how I converted my Dual motor 360 (and 361 dummy) to be a really useful, well-running operator that can pull damn near anything.
> 
> Step one: electronic reverse unit. Even after rebuilding the original reverse unit, it still didn't work as nicely as it does with this thing. It's got two relays in it, and dated 1984, but it works wonderfully.
> 
> ...


A year or so ago I picked up a 470 santa fe, with 2 motors. I had a nice 360 so what I did was put the 360 shell on the dual motor chassis, added a b, and did some truck swapping and now have a ABA. There's a thread in here about how I did it, but I couldn't find it. Yours sounds awesome!!! Sorry that picture doesn't show my other A unit.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm assuming you got the reverse units working?


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## ChopperCharles (Jan 3, 2012)

Yep, got the reverse units working! Was worried about not having two leads for both sides of the field coil, but following the instructions (which were in the box, which I almost threw out) got the reverse units working well. Probably not going to use it on the GP7 though. The instructions say they get very hot, and I don't want to melt my shell. Will grab a dallee for that i suppose.

My 360 is a dual motor... are they not all dual motors? Mine also used to have link couplers between the locomotives, but I've replaced that with the draw bar (that was the word I was looking for above) that was used on later locos. 

Charles.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

ChopperCharles said:


> Yep, got the reverse units working! Was worried about not having two leads for both sides of the field coil, but following the instructions (which were in the box, which I almost threw out) got the reverse units working well. Probably not going to use it on the GP7 though. The instructions say they get very hot, and I don't want to melt my shell. Will grab a dallee for that i suppose.
> 
> My 360 is a dual motor... are they not all dual motors? Mine also used to have link couplers between the locomotives, but I've replaced that with the draw bar (that was the word I was looking for above) that was used on later locos.
> 
> Charles.


I'm not sure about what configuration I had, but the front unit is a 360, no front coupler, 2 B units with draw bars, and my dummy is a 470?, with a knuckle coupler. If I want to run link cars, I just swap out the truck frame with a link coupler truck frame.There's a host of combo's I can work with.


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## Nuttin But Flyer (Dec 19, 2011)

Tool Time's Tim Taylor would be proud of you -- his favorite slogan was "More Power" and some grunting!!


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## ChopperCharles (Jan 3, 2012)

How many cars can you pull with your setup? I can pull 12 right now easily. 15 and she struggles through the S-turn on my layout (when more than half the cars are in one part of the S or the other) but will still pull out of it. 

The only other way I can pull that many cars is to double head two Atlantics. Even double-headed GP7s won't pull 15 cars, but the Atlantics do nicely with some added weight. (And they have much, much bigger motors than the alco or GP)

Charles.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

With a AB set-up, I pulled 5 aluminum cars, on 2 motors. I haven't tried anything else.


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## ChopperCharles (Jan 3, 2012)

Here's a video: http://youtu.be/6urZwdHtRjw






As you can see, the shells still need a lot of work, but it's a good puller.
(You might have to give the video 15 minutes to go live)

Charles.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I like!!! And the room looks fantastic.. Nice job all the way around.


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## PhoebeSnow (Mar 1, 2014)

ChopperCharles said:


> This is how I converted my Dual motor 360 (and 361 dummy) to be a really useful, well-running operator that can pull damn near anything.
> 
> Step one: electronic reverse unit. Even after rebuilding the original reverse unit, it still didn't work as nicely as it does with this thing. It's got two relays in it, and dated 1984, but it works wonderfully.
> 
> ...


In Step 5 when calling out the location of the the non-powered pickup wheels, is the unit on its back looking directly at the wheels or are you looking at the top of the unit with the wheels on the track, thanks


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