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I'm highly dyslexic I have an AF 322 trainset I believed made in 49 ok can somebody help me like I said I can't read very good if you could tell me how important this is to the trainset and if I really need this device I to make the trainset work I have to accessories I have the kettle car and kettle pin avd I have the mail car and I have uncouplers and I have two turnouts and I have a few lights for this set and a bunch of other stuff if you could please tell me I sure would appreciate

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Thank you the. If I don't use   the reflectorthat came with the train set 

Will the power pack that came with the train set.322 steam engine  wil the transformer work with other trains I have bought a desiel  . Locomotive 370 off eBay I will that locomative work on the same transformer that came with the 322 steam engine train set I have not  used the transfor yet  will other trains work on the transformer from the 322 steam engine trainset

 

 

If there is a rectifier in the set, it is most likely for the 332. If you can stick a screwdriver near the motor field and it sticks, it is a DC engine. You can test the engine by putting it on the track with your transformer and the motor just vibrates and sounds like it wants to run but just sits there, it is DC and the rectifier need to be wired between the track and transformer.

Doni -- to my knowledge (and looking through the various American Flyer reference books and repair manuals that I have) the 322 Hudson (wheel arrangement 4-6-4) was produced only with an AC motor - in fact, as far as I can tell, no AF Hudson's of any vintage had DC motors from the factory.  So you should be able to run that locomotive with just the transformer.  The 370 diesel is also AC and will certainly work with just the transformer as well.

Just to be absolutely certain about the 322, look at the wiring between the tender and the engine.  If there are four wires going into the jack panel at the top back of the cab, then its certainly an AC motor.  If there are only two (I'd be really surprised), then its likely a DC motor.  If that turns out to be the case, take a couple of pictures of the wiring and the motor and post them here and we can take a better look.

Just to close the loop on a couple of other comments.  Gilbert equipped only two of their steam locomotives with DC motors in the 1946-1950 time frame, the 4-8-4 Northern (that Gilbert labeled the Challenger) and the 0-8-0 switcher (their marketing department came up with the name "Directronic Propulsion").  The former was numbered either 332DC or 332 - in some cases the 332 had an AC motor, so 332 by itself wasn't unique to either AC or DC.  Similarly, the switcher was numbered either 342DC or 342.  As with the 4-8-4, the 342 came with either an AC or DC motor - that number alone didn't specify which motor was used.  Incidentally, all of the AC motors of that era were, in fact, universal and could be used with either AC or DC.  In this case, there is no need to use DC (and it will confuse the issue of wiring up the accessories).

 

added edit:  Turns out the 1950 version of the 4-8-4 was the 334DC (apparently no AC version of the 334).

Last edited by richs09

I agree with Bill, since the OP has a Hudson, DC is not required. All Hudsons had universal motors. By the way, 2 wires between the cab and tender is not a reliable indicator of a DC permanent magnet motor in the engine. All 1946 and 1947 steam engines had two wires because the reverse unit was mounted in the engine.

An additional caution, do not use the #15 for any reason, keep it as a display shelf item. I have seen several 70 year old silicon disc rectifiers go up in smoke when power was applied to them.

Tom and Bill -- you are right, I probably did violate the KISS rule - which occurred to me after I hit "post".  Tom, you are also right that the early Hudsons did have the reverse unit in the boiler - at some point (1948?) the 322 was set up with the smoke and choo-choo in the boiler and the reverse unit was moved to the tender.  If I had looked more carefully at the pictures in Doyle's book, I would have seen the reverse lockout lever sticking up through the boiler in the early versions of the 322. 

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