# American Flyer 325 Tender



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Slightly over a year ago I started a thread seeking help with a 336 tender and Cramden and Flyernut provided valuable assistance.
The same gentleman who owned the 336 has asked me to get a couple more of his American Flyer locomotives running. They happen to be a beautiful 350 Royal Blue 4 - 6 - 2 and a not so beautiful 325 4 - 6 - 4. The 350 is complete and the 325 is fully operational except for my inability to test the whistle. However, I have some parts left over and do not know what purpose they serve or how they fit together on the two trucks.

Before going any farther, here are photos of the bottom of the tender and the parts that need to be installed.

I tried to locate these parts using the "myflyertrains.org" gallery but it appears to me that the parts are not called out and there does not appear to be any descriptive information regarding assembly or ultimate use of the unit once secured to the trucks. 

I would appreciate your assistance so I can complete this project.

Thank you, swede


----------



## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

The piece on the left goes on the side-frame of the truck. It attaches to the side-frame with the 2 small "ears". The piece in the center, contact shoe, then goes into the piece you just installed on the side-frame. The last piece is the spring that keeps tension on the contact shoe with the track.


----------



## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

flyernut, I have a couple locos with the extra pick-up shoes. I am wondering how important they are. rrswede says the 325 runs fine without them. I guess if you want strict original they should be reinstalled. The tender has the one side metal wheels and the copper strip to axle for power pickup.


----------



## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The sliding pickups were included on engines/tenders with the AirChime whistle. Their purpose was to improve operation of a whistle that even when operating perfectly sounds awful. The engine should run fine without them.


----------



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Thank you for the responses, Flyernut, Mopac and AmFlyer. 

The owner of the locomotive indicated he wanted the "extra" pieces installed and since the locomotive ran fine without the them, I thought I was missing something important. I guess not; if two wheels are not sufficient, let's add a shoe. That threw me for a loop. 

As for putting the three pieces together and securing to the truck frame, I understand the piece on the left (shoe box) gets fastened to the truck frame. Without removing the rivets securing the truck side plate to the truck frame there is no way to bend the "ears" of the shoe box to secure it to the truck frame. I plan to use a touch of solder to secure the shoe box to the truck frame.

I understand the shoe fits inside the shoe box with its "ear" extending out of the slot in the shoe box so it can move up and down in the shoe box with the spring providing downward pressure to keep the shoe in contact with the track. What I don't understand is the spring itself. I would have expected the spring to be a common compression spring that would be placed inside the shoe. These springs have "ears" like torsion springs and I don't know how to properly position the springs inside the shoes.

Thanks for sticking with me. 

swede


----------



## flyguy55 (Apr 20, 2015)

A cheap fix for the spring inside the shoe is to take apart a cheap ballpoint pen.Remove the spring and cut to size and install inside the shoe......To install the shoe to the tender wall instead of solder use two part epoxy or J-Weld....heat may distort or blister paint on tender...


----------



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Flyguy, thanks for the response and suggestion. Frankly, if I didn't get any "official" answer to the spring issue, that's what I was going to do. The springs (with their "ears" cut off) that came with the locomotive and tender appear to be too short to provide the pressure needed to keep the shoe against the track.

As for JB Weld in lieu of solder, that is an option. It was not my first choice because I'd have to clamp the shoe boxes to the truck side frames to let the epoxy set. 

Thank you, again, swede. Will let you know what I end up doing.


----------



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Flyguy and others,

I learned the springs were not correct. Common compression springs found in my junk drawer were placed in the shoes and the repairs are complete.

Attached is a photo of the installed shoe. I used a touch of solder and all worked out well. You can see the spot of solder on the shoe box at the tab.

Thank again to all who responded, swede


----------



## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

rrswede said:


> Flyguy and others,
> 
> I learned the springs were not correct. Common compression springs found in my junk drawer were placed in the shoes and the repairs are complete.
> 
> ...


Sorry I'm late to the party but those springs don't look familiar to me. Glad you got it figured out. Though the shoes aren't critical for running, they are necessary for the Air Chime operation. You can find them on some tenders without Air Chime; the 313 and the 293 are two that come to mind. As Flyguy55 stated, pen springs are good substitutes in a pinch. I've used them for brush springs at times. I always save old pens for the springs, they are free and can be used for lots of projects. They also come in many different tensions and lengths. Maybe I'm just a hoarder or cheap.


----------



## rrswede (Jan 6, 2012)

Cramden, thanks for responding. 

In our day, collecting good "stuff" for when we would need it would have been considered being frugal, not hoarding or cheap. When we collect "stuff" today, we can consider ourselves to be environmentalists because we recycle and reuse.

swede


----------

