# 355's



## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

My fleet of 355's.. I have all the cars also to complete the 3 sets. Dad bought me this set back in 1958(?).. This is not my original set, just a replacement for the one I had,lol...


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Those are nice looking. they look in good shape. Next time you have a shell off. Take a 
pic. I would like to see the guts. Are they heavy. Will they pull 5 or 6 cars?


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

mopac said:


> Those are nice looking. they look in good shape. Next time you have a shell off. Take a
> pic. I would like to see the guts. Are they heavy. Will they pull 5 or 6 cars?


The entire set consisted of a 802, 804, and a 806, and the engine pulled the 3 cars with no problem. I have several knuckle coupler cars on my work bench, and I'll try a few more for your pleasure,lol, and I'll take a few pics of the guts. Give me an hour...


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

You certainly don't need to do it today. Just when ever. I have seen a couple of those 355 on ebay. Those rear steps tend to break. Maybe they had rough treatment. I noticed yours are nice.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Agree, those are 3 nice 355's.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I'm putting a bunch of Atlantics on ebay right now, so I threw your pics into the mix.... The 355's are a little heavy, but they're great locos.. I put a pair of 802's, a 806, a 804, and a 963 behind it, and it pulled them without any problems.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

mopac said:


> You certainly don't need to do it today. Just when ever. I have seen a couple of those 355 on ebay. Those rear steps tend to break. Maybe they had rough treatment. I noticed yours are nice.


The front steps are also complete.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Thanks for the pics. Wow, they look nice inside also. I had never seen inside an AF diesel.
Big motor in them also. Brushes go in from side of motor. Thanks again. Let me know if you decide to sell one of those. I need to get me a diesel some day. LOL. I need something to run on my AF tracks. That motor doc isn't calling me back. He might be out of business. I wanted to see what he would charge to rewind my armature for the 282.
In his ad he said it was cheaper than buying another armature but did not tell a price.
The characteristics of a bad armature pretty much described my problem. He said it would make the field get hot. My field sure gets hot. And the brush caps get hot. It
might be the armature bad. I think my windings are blackish not copper looking. That was another characteristic he said. I would like to keep it original but for $35 I can get a DC can motor conversion kit that replaces the AF motor. Then you have to run it with DC power unless you get a new electronic reverse unit and then it will run on either.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

mopac said:


> Thanks for the pics. Wow, they look nice inside also. I had never seen inside an AF diesel.
> Big motor in them also. Brushes go in from side of motor. Thanks again. Let me know if you decide to sell one of those. I need to get me a diesel some day. LOL. I need something to run on my AF tracks. That motor doc isn't calling me back. He might be out of business. I wanted to see what he would charge to rewind my armature for the 282.
> In his ad he said it was cheaper than buying another armature but did not tell a price.
> The characteristics of a bad armature pretty much described my problem. He said it would make the field get hot. My field sure gets hot. And the brush caps get hot. It
> might be the armature bad. I think my windings are blackish not copper looking. That was another characteristic he said. I would like to keep it original but for $35 I can get a DC can motor conversion kit that replaces the AF motor. Then you have to run it with DC power unless you get a new electronic reverse unit and then it will run on either.


I've seen NOS field coils go for $15 bucks.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I think my field is fine. And there are so many armatures I don't know which to get.
Well at least motor doc says fields hardly ever go bad. I know the armature I have fits and
that why I thought I would get it rewound. They do go bad. Mine might just be oil soaked.
Maybe I should soak it over night in a glass of alcohol. Couldn't hurt. 
I checked the 3 sections of the face against each other and there was no short. So I don't know.

The only thing that didn't match with a bad armature was that the motor slows up as it gets hot. Mine starts out slow and stays the same no matter how hot the motor gets.


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