Pre-war 4 position e-unit issue

[vikes88]

Hello,

       The thin wire that leads from the top reverse unit fingers to the side of the e-unit coil on my AF model 420 has broken in half.  Can I remove the remaining portion of the wire that dangles from the side of the coil and simply replace it with a wire that is comparable?

       The wire threads through a small hole in the side of the coil...then, is soldered to the rear portion of the top fingers.  Is the function of the wire that connects to the side of the coil for ground purposes?

       Thanks for all replies!

[Major]

From what you wrote I would carefully solder a lenght of wire on to the coil wire and reattach that to the location on the upper finger arm where it broke off from.  The coil wires are rather delicate and with age become brittle and if you don't have enough wire to work with it is almost impossible to unwind any off of the coil.  The prewar Gilbert reverse unit is basicly the same as the early post war units that were located in the locomotive so if the one in there now cannot be repaired it is possible to replace it with a early post war reverse unit.