I have a small roster of early brass steam locos that are waiting for me to install DCC decoders in them.
All have what appears to be Pittman open frame motors, and their individual current draw ranges from 0.6 to 1.7 amps DC at full stall.
So the questions are:
Could some of the motors be saved by upgrading the magnets?
If re-motoring is needed, what challenges await me?
Jim
Just to answer in general terms, most folks find can motors run much better than the old open frame ones.
MR and RMC have done articles on repowering older brass engines, you might want to search online to see what you can find - plus you may find some ‘how to’ videos on YouTube, perhaps even for the specific engines you have.
DCC decoders for HO usually only go up to 1 amp or so, so that one with 1.7 amps might burn out the decoder.
Yes in most cases you can change the magnets with rare-earth magnets. I prefer to change the motor but it depends on the engine.
It might be useful to remove the boiler and post photos, one engine at a time, for more specific comments.
Simon