Recently purchased a used vintage AF stockyard setup with cattle car. I have set up the stockyard per the instructions in the "American Flyer Instruction Book". The cattle move well around the corrals and when the gates are opened the move up the ramp and off the end. When the cattle car is positioned, the cows stop at the entrance to the cattle car but won't go any further. Can anyone tell me what the problem might be?
Well hopefully you have the right cattle car. The 629/929 car won't work. You need the 776/976 car with duel doors on one side. These cars have a vibrator pad in them that will move the cattle along inside the car. To energize the car 18 volts from the stockyard action button is applied to the pickup in one of the car's trucks.
If you have all of this then he most common problems are the vibrator in the car in not working, perhaps burned out or it needs adjustment. (Look for an adjustment screw on one end of the car.) Or another problem is electrical connections. Check is to make sure there are metal wheels on one of the trucks of the car and they are on the "base post" side. In other words these metal wheels should be on the rail that is connected to the base post of the American Flyer transformer. The pick up on the other truck that slides on the special rail on the stockyard should get the 18 volts from the transformer through the control button if you are using the correct button which should have a push button for the car and a rotating switch to energize the vibrator in the stockyard itself.
Make sure all your connections are right. Hope this helps.
Bill
Thanks for the help. I checked the car and found by jumping power and base to it that it vibrates. So...I ran a new base wire to the section of track by the stockyard and found that the car floor will now vibrate. System doesn't work perfectly, but it does work!
The reason the cattle go to the top of the ramp and won't go into the cattle car is that they know where the cattle car is headed and what their fate will be. These little cows may look stiff and stupid but they are really pretty smart.
I see you have gotten some very good real answers below, I was just trying to put a smile on your face.
Mikes
Very good post Mike
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