Hi
Can the Marklin HO California Zephyry passenger cars (from set 26600) be converted to normal two rail US DC systems? I assume Marklin sells wheel sets that can be interchanged with their normal 3 rail ones.
Is this so? If so, do they meet RP 25 standards.
Can I use other wheel sets made by US manufacturers? (Kadee?)
What are the complications?
Also, what can you convert the Marklin couplers to Kadee couplers?
Can the lighting be rigged to work on 2 rail systems?
I would like to run these cars with my Genesis WP F3 set on 20" radius curves.
Thanks
John
Yes, Yes, Yes, would not recommend Kadee due to axle lenght, Reboxx, many, yes, yes.
You will need to measure the length of the axles and wheel diameter that Marklin uses, and get replacements with the same axle length and wheel diameter.
You may have to remove the electrical pick up system if it touches the insulated wheels. You will have to remove the the center electrical pick ups so that they do not foul track work. You will need to add electrical pickups to the insulated side. You may have to replace parts of the electrical system due to difference in track voltage and AC vs DC.
Kadee offers NEM mount couplers, which may fit. Purchase a pack of each Kadee NEM mount couplers, and see which works best - the best fit may be different for different cars.
It would be much easier if you could trade these for the TRIX version, which is set up for DC.
Marklin do indeed offer replacement wheels, and I think these are to RP25. If you plan to run the cars in a fixed set you might want to consider putting Kadees on the ends and using a close-coupler between the cars, as they already have the mechanism for this so you’d just need something like Fleischmann’s Profi-coupler or the Marklin equivelent. Hope this is of use!