Hello all,
I have an American Flyer (21)234 GP-7.
As typical, the frame is missing most of it’s paint, and will have to be cleaned and restored. There are a couple of broken wires inside the loco. One is for a light, and the other is a red wire coming from the field coil. I cannot seem to where the other end should go.
Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the American Flyer GP-7?
Any help would be appreciated.
Ah the ole 234 C&O bell ringing switcher, my favorite locomotive. See below for wiring, I just restored mine last Sept:
here is a picture of mine, keep us posted on how she runs! Mine only pulls about 10 postwar cars, but is allot of fun. Too bad I could not afford the set…
I have most of the original “Defender Set” that my favorite Flyer loco came with.
The US Navy car (Why is it hard to get anything tinplate Navy? Army sets everywhere, but no Navy.) is missing it’s load.
The only car I am missing is the missile car, that attaches to the Marine corp boxcar.
The caboose has a chip missing from it.
My 234’s bell ringer is damaged. Someone turned the rear truck too far and damaged the pendulum. I will have to fix that.
I got the 234 in a bulk buy from a freind of mine that wanted to see his collection stay intact.
I can restore as necessary, just not allowed to sell. I had to promise him that I would not sell, and if I sold anything, other than track, he would come back from the dead and haunt me.
For $1300.00 I got:
The 234 and it’s set (with exceptions listed above.
The Silver Streak PA loco with 3 passenger cars.
2 Erie Casey Jones locos (one missing the wheels in the tender)
1 Southern Casey Jones
3 4-6-4s
10 4-4-2 atlantics
4 dozen frieght cars, and about a dozen cabeese
1 4-6-2
A box full of N scale trains
A shoebox full of lock ons track trips.
4 switches
A Lionel train set (Chessie flyer)
3 boxes of Flyer track (the size copy paper comes in)
5 boxes of O-27 track
and a very beaten Marx 666
Not a bead deal, most of the AF locos need some work, especially the Alco PA, the 234, and a Pennsy steamer.
Well, I pulled the loco apart to fix it, I was able to bend the bell ringer back into shape (mostly).
I was surprised by the amount of paint chips inside the shell. I pulled apart the loco and out comes a pile of yellow flakes onto my work bench. And by work bench, I mean computer desk. My work bench isn’t finished yet. I am converting an old small desk to a work bench with permanently attached track and transfomer with test leads.
The frame is now being stripped of all paint by the boiling cauldron method. Really, it’s only to remove the paint from the crevices, as the frame was mostly bare and ugly when I got it.
I will update on the status of repairs soon.
You know I saw the Marines box car for sale a while back, no missle car and I could not figure out the plug and where it plugged in so I did not buy it (was 250.00). Then somebody told me you need the missle car as well ( another 250)…500 bucks was out of my league right now… so then that begs the question, how do the two cars work together? Do you stop the train on the contact and does the rocket car and box car operate together, or is there some sort of delay for effect here?
The Navy car I am not familiar with, is that a version of the Marine/Army Oper. car?
any how, my 234 looks and runs great, have the long steps, adjusted the bell but could not figure how to finess it to ring during direction change only, seems just to ring when ever!
looks like you got a good deal, what numbers are on the 4-6-4’s. I have plenty of 322’s and one 21130 that run’s great but no 326… still looking.
hmm a Southern Casey Jones is that the one that smokes and choo-choo’s? Its the hardest to find I was told…
4 dozen freight cars?! any 5 digit boxcars? I know a few that are very collectable.
If you have pictures post em!
Oh and take note of the traction tire locations on the trucks for the 234. I accidently put mine on the wrong end, when I reassembled and tried to pull some cars it just sat and spun…
I actually do not know how the missle car works, either.
The US navy car is a grey flatcar, that typically came with a jeep on it.
The Southern Casey Jones does smoke and choo-choo, and quite well at that.
My 234 is also of the long step type.
I am not sure if the bell ringer will work correctly, with how bent up the ringer is, but I think I may be able to straighten it out.
Quite a few of the freight cars in the set were pikemaster type, with quite a few doubles. (about 20 of them)
One of the larger locos is a K324, another is a 322, the other has a metal boiler, but it was partially repainted by the guy I got it from. (Quite a few nicks, scratches and some rust)
My 234’s frame is almost clean. I was able to match up paint for it quite well.
I have only actually seen 6 234s so far, I remember looking at a newer GP-7 at a nearby hobby store, when my wife mentioned that the 234 looked better, when a nearby shopper asked if we had one, my wife told him that we had one, and he offered $500 for it. Needless to say, I told the eager shopper that it was not for sale, and the terms that lead to my ownership of my 234.
I am surprised that Gilbert never made this into a separate sale item, or at least in more sets.
Arguably one of the best looking GP-7s ever made by Gilbert.
ah yes the infamous jeep flat car… never seen one in person only on ebay in a complete set.
how does that Southern casey run? Similar to the atlantics?
hmm you will have to post a picture of the freight cars and how the restoration is going.
I had the same problem with the yellow paint flaking, good news is it only flaked off under the shell, I don’t think Gilbert cleaned,primed and baked these properly, everyone I have seen has lossed paint on them… I like them better repainted.
do you have a Geep 370? notice the weight above the front truck? I was thinking of swapping it out for pulling more cars, don’t know if that would cause issues with the current draw of the motor though…
500! wow…I know the short step can draw that because there were fewer made for the pikemaster set… Never have seen that set either…but for the long step I have seen on ebay for 250 to 300, never see em at the shows because nobody wants to sell em…
I think by the time Gilbert released the Defender set S gauge trains were not selling. The U.S. was in a recession then, so cheapening up the sets was the priority…
reminds me of this car industry…
My Southern Casey jones runs pretty good, other than some corrosion on the E-unit.
I don’t remebr if I took any before photos of my 234. I have a number of photos of my Lionel 221 of when I got it and a few uring the restoration, which will be complete once I get a new E-unit for it and a couple of rivets.
Right now the 234 is apart with it’s shell stripped. I will apply the first coat of primer to the frame today.
There are a few chips in the paint of the 234’s shell, but I intend to leave those as they are. the right hand side of the loco is missing a window, and the cross bar to it is halfway gone. I do intend on fixing that little section.
The motor is running strong on a test section, with it’s wheels off the track. As far as I can tell, the E-unit is in good shape, so I think the fault in the motor is the broken wire.
I know one thing: I would rather re-wrap a field coil and armature than to have to troubleshoot one of the newer locos.
I have a Lionel Chessie GP-38 with a defective reverse unit. (Solid state). If I could get the wiring diagram, I could troubleshoot the card, rather than fork over $13 for a new one, without knowing what failed on the bad card.
The older mechanical E-units may have been cantankerous at times, but they are easier to troubleshoot and understand.
I will keep everyone posted on the status of the 234.
I was just looking on E Bay and somebody has the navy flat car with both Jeeps listed for 49.99 with no bids…
also a beat up 234 is listed separately that needs lots of help, its already over 200.00
I have over 20 LTI Geeps with different road names… none of the reverse units hold their direction as soon as the power plug in pulled, very frustrating when operating them in tandem. Noted that the trucks on some frames make the body look higher on one end than the other… to bad the quality is so poor…otherwise they are pretty good runners…
Well, so far so good.
The frame has been fully primed and has been given it’s first coat of paint. (Model Master Chrome Yellow Enamel). I spent about an hour standing in the paint aisle of my local hobby shop when the owner walked up to me and asked if I was intending on restoring my 234, which I was carefully comparing the existing paint (what was left) with the cards for each brand of paint that show what the finished paint will look like.
I told him I was, he takes a look at the engine and hands me the bottle of Chrome Yellow, and show me the card for it, and sure enough, it looked to be the best match he had.
They may not have all that much for O scale stuff and parts, but for paint and other supplies, there really isn’t anywhere else I would go.
The 234 should be fully assembled by the end of the weekend. Once the frame is completed, it is a simple matter of re-soldering the electrical, and putting her back on the rails and back in her place - domination of all inferior scales (HO, N, Z)
if you have pictures please post! What did you use to clean the frame before prime? Just wondering, I have a 370 that needs a frame repainted black
I don’t think I have any before photos of the loco in detail. I will take photos when I am done with the loco.
To clean the shell off of all paint, I used what is called the"boiling cauldron" We have an old kettle that isn’t suitable for cooking use anymore, so we use it to clean off old paint.
Boiling Cauldron: 1.) Take a large pot that you no longer want to use for cooking, and mark it as such.
2.) Add water and a generous amount of laundry soap. I find that using powdered detergent works best.
3.) Bring the kettle to a boil and carefully place the frame that you want stripped in.
4.) Let the kettle boil, adding water as needed, being careful to not overflow the kettle.
5.) When done, the paint will come off easily, most will come off in the kettle, some will need to be further cleaned off with a dental pick.
6.) It may be necessary to re-boil the frame. Some thicker layers of paint may need more effort.
7.) When done with the kettle, clean it out. CAUTION: Older paint may contain more lead than a wooden Thomas toy.
WHEN NOT IN USE, BAG UP AND MARK ALL EQUIPMENT USED AS NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. (Just like the steaks served on my boat.)
8.) For small areas of paint to be removed, use some aircraft remover paint stripper in accordance with the label.
Most of this was found in a 2001 issue of CTT.
The frame has been fully repainted, save for the steps, which need to be touched up by hand.
Unfortunately, the loco does not want to move. The reverse unit seems to be faulted. When I detach the motor and connect the leads to a transformer, the motor runs just fine. If I jumper out the reverse unit, the loco runs just fine. (Only in one direction, as expected)
I need to pick up a new multimeter to test the output of the E-unit, I suspect that it is not going to pass.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Can you get the E unit to hum or at least cycle? If you can, then check the copper pick up fingers are making contact to the drum, mine had burn’t holes in them.
I believe you can get replacement parts for the E unit coil and assembly. I have seen guys re-wrap the coil as well…