American Flyer power supply

[Anonymous]

I have a collection of American Flyer trains that belonged to my father. The majority of the collection is in very good condition. I plan to display most of this collection is a display case. I would like to run a loop about 50' long around the top of a room in my basement. The transformer is in poor shape. What are my options for power? I have a couple cheap tranformer units from HO sets can they be used?

[ben10ben]

I would suggest replacing it with another American Flyer transformer. They're cheap enough, and a pretty much indestructable. I like the 8b, which is capable of supplying 100 watts, more than enough for one train, and can be had usually for less than $25.

HO power packs will work in theory, but they have their problems. They may not be able to supply enough current for the AF engines for one thing. The biggest concern, though, is that running Lionel or American Flyer engines on DC, as opposed to AC, can permanantly magnetize the plunger(Lionel) or relay(American Flyer) of the reverse unit, and cause it to be very, very sticky and not want to change direction. American Flyer reverse units are finicky enough as it is, so I wouldn't do anything to them to make them worse.

[Dave Farquhar]

I agree with Ben. A Lionel transformer will also work just fine (it happens to be AC) but Lionel units are generally more expensive than Flyer, especially if they have the whistle control. But if a Lionel is all you can find, it'll be much better than an HO power pack.

My Flyer 21160 does run OK off an HO transformer, but that was a very low-end locomotive and even that seems happier running off a Flyer transformer, especially at lower speeds. It might just be something about my particular transformer, but I relegated it back to lights duty since my Flyer transformer runs just fine.

[lionelsoni]

I have rectifiers in my locomotives and no trouble with magnetized e-units, Lionel or Flyer. As e-units wear, they develop notches in the crotches of the drum teeth, which tend to catch the pawl, keeping it from releasing. The vibration of AC-powered e-units tends to mitigate this. However, a little whittling to straighten out the teeth or replacing the drum every 40 years or so will also cure the crotch-notch problem.