# Need help with American Flyer



## mdalsey (Dec 18, 2010)

Hi -

I am a complete newbie and am in need of some advice with an American Flyer 283 steam locomotive. This is from the 1950s, exact age unknown.

The trains hadn't been run in a number of years. I was able to get it set up and running pretty well for a few days, but right now I cannot get the train to move in forward or reverse. There is power on the tracks and the lights in the engine and caboose are brightly lit. When I change polarity with the transformer, I hear the clicks, but I am not getting any movement at all with the wheels. Before this happened, I was getting some pretty inconsistent speeds with the trains - this did not seem quite right. 

Right now I can't get the engine to move at all. 

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Mike


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Mike,

We have a few well-experienced AF guys here on the forum. I'm not one of them (dohh!) ... more of a Lionel guy. However ...

Many of these old trains have "e-units" that allow the train to transition through direction settings with each power-down (voltage drop) cycle: fwd - neutral - reverse - neutral, etc.

The e-units have a switch or lever that you can toggle to disengage the e-units functionality, in which case, the loco stay in whatever its last "direction" setting was. However, sometimes that happens to be a "neutral" setting, in which case, the loco won't run.

Question #1 ... Did you accidentally toggle over an e-unit lever?

TJ


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## Stillakid (Jan 12, 2010)

Mike, have you removed the tender shell yet? To get a view of the reversing unit, and see if the drum is rotating, or if the pawl is sticking, you'll need to do that. I've found that when this usually happens, the pawl is sticking.
Give this "How To" a read, and get back to us.

Jim
http://www.portlines.com/portlinesclinic23.htm


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## mdalsey (Dec 18, 2010)

TJ - I don't think I toggled the e-unit lever, but I will double check that.

Jim - I haven't removed the tender shell, but I will do that.

Thanks very much for the replies - I will update after I've taken a better look at the train.

I am a complete beginner - this has already been a great education!


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

It could be a broken wire. You won't have to take the tender top off, right now that it. Each time it tries to cycle, turn the power off, and tap on top of the tender. Turn power on and see what happens. If nothing happens, take off the tender body.While the tender body is off, check for any broken wires, especially the ones on the truck rivets.Squirt some tuner cleaner in the e unit, and blow it dry.As long as you have the body off, remove and clean the fingers, and the drum. Use oil SPARINGLY!! Run the e-unit as dry as you can. Too much oil on it will pick up dust/dirt from the track, and then you've got a sticky e-unit again.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

My first guess is (like TJ) the lever on the e-unit is in the middle (neutral) position. Second guess is to echo Flyernut on the wire, followed by worn brushes or carbon on the commutator plates. Keep us posted on it!


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