The post about what was your first train or loco has spurred me to ask for help. This is the loco I have, or had as a kid and I’d really like to use it for future layouts. Would anyone be willing to do me a favor, even for a fee, and put a set of KD’s on this sucker for me. It would really make me happy to be able to relive some of my childhood days through this loco. If you’re interested or know someone who is, please email me at wrench1103@yahoo.com.
BTW, I think I have the correct KD couple for this model, can’t remember the # right now, I just don’t have the skils, time and tools to make it happen, oh yeah, and the brass ones to not mess it up.
How about a general idea of what area of the country you live in? Changing that engine is no more than a five minute job per end. Your hobby shop if you have one should be able to help you also.
I believe that is an AHM FM “C” liner. I disagree with the prior poster. If done right it is one of the more difficult conversions. It has truck mounted couplers. Unfortunately it requires cutting, filing, filling, drilling, and tapping. It takes a different coupler on front and rear (#31 and #37). Not an easy drop in conversion.
Eons ago, with great difficulty I snipped off the truck mounted couplers and body mounted Kadees – I have long since discarded the engine so I no longer recall which KD I used but have some recollection of needing the offset shank version due to height, and I never did fill in the pilot gap to my satisfaction. But in a vivid demonstration of the “greater fool” theory I was able to unload my butchery onto some other modeler!
By the way I bought mine when the list price was I think $8.95 and AHM would sell three slightly damaged ones (sometimes hardly damaged at all) for that same price in a “Funeral Sale”, or they’d throw in a few into what they called “Roundhouse Rubble” where for $10 you might get four AHM steam locomotives and two or three diesels, damaged but mostly repairable, with a bunch of C Liner and BL2 shells usually thrown into the box for good measure. Those as they say, were the days. Imagine spending $10 and getting an SP cab forward, a USRA 4-6-2 or 2-8-2, an Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0, a Pennsy 0-4-0, an E unit, a Rock Island BL2 and a RS3 switcher, plus shells, tenders, boilers, and loose parts, all in one box.
I’m so proud of myself, I finally figured out that this loco only cost me $15, so if I take a chance and screw up the coupler install, well then, I can just go find another loco right? Right. So I decided to take the plunge and try to install the KD #31 on my AHM C-Liner anyhow. And you know what? It wasn’t even that hard, the hardest part was trying to get that ##%^^# coupler together. LOL Here are some pics, sorry about the blurry one, the cross bar is what you have to file down so the coupler box will fit in. Didn’t have to drill and tap or nothin, pretty slick.
Since no one else has responded, let me be the first to say: Congratulations!
It’s in things like this that we learn, and as you said yourself, what’s the worst that could happen? Then, after a few projects like this, to start working on something more important is not so terrifying. So again, good on you!
Since no one else has responded, let me be the first to say: Congratulations!
Well, I don’t know what happened, I tried to add some of those smiley-type symbols, but it decided to multiple-post my partial reply, and there’s no deleting a post. Sorry for the extra noise.
