can a athearn blue box dummy locomotive be converted to a powered unit and how hard would it be???
The trucks would have to be replaced with ones made for a powered version, and you would need a motor, drive shafts, and worm gear.
It would probably be cheaper to purchase a powered Athearn chassis for the particular type of model you have on eBay.
I actually just did this about a month ago with a dummy Athearn Trainmaster. There are only two points of difficulty, and both have to do with the axle bearings. They are probably needlepoint, so you’ll have to drill them out with a 3/32" bit (keep it straight!) to fit the powered axles. And since the bearings are plastic, there is no electrical contact, so you’ll have to install wipers. I’ve found Kadee coupler centering springs to be especially useful for this, since they apply enough pressure for good contact without restricting movement, and they’re somewhat self lubricating. Beyond that, just add the correct gears and axles, use your choice of motor and universals, and wire it up!
You can get all the parts on ebay or from Athearn directly, you just need to know what model the locomotive is. You could also upgrade it with Athearn Genesis parts.
All you need is a drive line - motor w/ flywheels, drive shafts and universals, trucks (geared trucks, which would come with the proper wheels and sideframes), worm gears, motor mounts, etc. Like the guy said, pick up a powered bluebox from eBay and just swap the parts or swap the chassis - cheaper and easier.
How about using an NWSL Stanton drive?
Hi there Jay remember me I was wondering when you plan on returning my 2 Rpp SD90 frames it would a good thing since you took $100 of mine and you never returned them are you ok?
you could replace the powerd chassis complete at a less expense than to buy parts
seperately watch ebay yahoo groupHoSwap has a wishlist Wensday put in your request