I have a Postwar American Flyer 343 0-8-0 switcher on my bench. This one has the reversing unit in the tender, and a four wire cloth covered cable connecting the two. There is also a single conductor cloth covered wire running from the tender to an eyelet on the engine's terminal plate.
First question: is the single wire original?
My American Flyer service manual reprint shows the engine as I described above on the first page of the section on the 343. But then it shows the wiring as if the reversing unit was in the locomotive. Sure enough, when I looked on the internet, most of the locos were as described above. But one engine only had two wires running from the tender to the engine, and there was a sheet metal shroud covering the back of the loco. I assume the reversing unit was under the shroud.
Second question: What is the story on AF moving the e-unit to the engine?
Third question: There is a sheet metal tab sticking down from the chassis of the tender, on the right side, just ahead of the rear truck. What is it's purpose?
Thanks
