# 307 Atlantic on DC



## bobmat48 (Sep 7, 2011)

(I tried posting this once but may have timed out - sorry if this is a duplicate.)

I've started to accumulate AF cars & engines after a 40-year absence and many years of HO kitbashing. One of my engines is a 307 Atlantic that was a "basket case" purchase on eBay. I figured this will be my "learning engine". It has the 4-position tender-mounted reverse unit, which of course sticks. I know I can replace it, or learn how to clean/repair it, but I'm intrigued by the idea of making it a DC-only runner.

Can I simply disconnect ro remove the reverse unit and wire it directly and then use a larger size HO DC power pack? This is not a particularlty valuable piece and I'm wondering if anyone otu there has converted to DC-only.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Bob,

I'm not an AF guy, so ...

Are the pickups on that loco actually in the tender? Do you have the tender (with wheel-contact pickups?) Assuming you do ...

I think it's quite possible. A/C motors can generally run on DC. Wire/electric sequence would generally be:

"Hot" rail pickup to one brush can; through the armature; out other brush can; to one side of field coil; through field coil; out other side of field coil to ground/frame and back to other rail.

The only thing I'm scratching my head on is whether the loco would reverse OK when you flipped the direction (polarity) on your DC transformer. I think it would, but let's double check here with other guys ...

Anyone?

TJ


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## Stillakid (Jan 12, 2010)

Bob, here's some interseting takes on converting.

Jim
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/forums/thread.aspx?ThreadID=134739


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I think a lot of what is posted in that link is somewhat suspect.  Why you'd want to use an obsolete Selenium rectifier is totally beyond me, for instance. 

One thing in that thread I do agree with, while the motor will run fine, it won't reverse without an E-Unit.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

This has caught my interest. Why do you want to run it on DC? 

John, that rectifier has been around since 1949. I checked my AF manual for that year and the posted link just reviews it. Personally, I tried it on a 1060 but the rectifier was too small it heated up. I eventualy gave up. 

The down side to converting is that if you convert all of them only half will run with the other half and not each other. That is, if you use a DC rectified from an AC transformer.

The upside is running two trains independently.


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## Major (Dec 22, 2010)

Any Flyer locomotive is easy to convert to DC. You just wire a Bridge rectifier across the field winding. I even made a small control box with a larger bridge rectifier so I could convert the AC power from my Flyer transformers to DC, so I need only to throw a switch when I run the locomotives so equipped. You could also buy a electronic reversing unit to replace the mechanical one. All are very easy conversions


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