A friend gave me plans from an old GRR for a 7/8n Plymouth. The dude from Maine who designed it suggested power trucks. When I checked the web site he recommended, I got sticker shock. It’s actually cheaper buying a small Bachmann diesel and using that power drive/wheel set.
Is there a less expensive way to get a 2 axle power truck, say, significantly less than the $80 sticker price I saw (I don’t wish to name the mfgr as I don’t want to bash any)
David, I simply use an axle woth a worm and spur gear arrangement. The motor costs me £2.00 and the gears £2.40 have a look here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sheila.capella/cabbage/kitchen.html I hope this solution is cheap enough for you! regards ralph
FJ & G
Check out the Hartland Locomotive Works website, they have some that are much more reasonably priced. I am not sure that they are what you are looking for but it’s worth a look. Hope this is a help.
Happy Railroading,
Ron
FJ&G,
Depending on what size wheels and what the distance between them is there may be more that one place to get a pre made power truck. Like Ron suggested Hartland Locomotive Works is a great place to start. If nothing else maybe you could use a rail truck motor and gear assembly and make your own chassis so you could place the other axle where you wish.
My favorite power truck suppliers are:
Aristo Craft 2 and 3 axle motor blocks
USA Trains 2 axle motor blocks
Hartland Locomotive Works 2 axle motor blocks
You can get Aristo and USA parts through “www.wholesaletrains.com” or “www.ridgeroadstation.com” for a lot less than $80. Hartland sells replacement power blocks for the Mack Switcher for $30 - $40 direct. I once found a closeout at St. Aubin Station “www.lgbpola.com” on Hartland Macks and bought 4 for $35 each, complete, so you can get good deals if you shop around.
Someday I must post pictures of my experiments!
Rich
USA has 2 axle power blocks for $25.00.
Thses are strong runners, but some have been known to have the axle sleeve crack, but it is repairable wia glue. Some have drilled holes and pinned the gear sleeve to the axle. I would do both, glue it and insert a pin.
I’ve used Aristo’s 2 axle brick from their centercab switcher for several projects, they have power wire leads that need to be “hotwired”, red to black and green to blue. these are really nice in that the weight is built into them, makes kitbashing the body easier.
USA sells 2 powered 2 axle bricks, a small one from their centercab and a biggeer one from the SW/GP line, these have skates for extra power pickup and these are good for a small lokie if your running over switches. There are 2 power points with 2 prongs each at each power point at one side that need to be jump connected, I just used a small peice of brass bent into a U and wedged onto each prong and should be soldiered in place.
HLW sells the self contained RTR Mack brick seperatly but you have to deal with the light staff that sticks up out of the block. they also sell 4 different powered bricks from other engines, check their website for detail, I have heard they are good to use, but only have experience with the Mack brick
This is using two AC bricks hotwired together::
This was using the USA GP brick w/ skates:
Good Luck
Thanks for all the creative ideas. I’m going to chop a GP-9 dual-powered motor in half and build two 7/8n18 diesels from that. I’ll look at other ideas you suggested for the 7/8n2 aspect.