Being a turn-of-the-century modeler of Nevada mining railroads I am always looking for small steam engines. These old 1970’s 2-6-0s pop up on Ebay all of the time and I was wondering if it is possible to get them to run well. They either have the open frame motor in the tender or a very oversized open frame motor sticking out the back of the cab. I seem to remember Olsen et al, rebuilding the HOn3 versions into decent models using micromotors and gearheads back in the 1980s. Even with all of the modifications, do you think they ran up to today’s standards? Do micromotors and gearheads even exist today? Opinions about the frustration factor in rebuilding these old engines is appreciated. - Nevin
In a word … Yes.
Here’s one place you might try: http://www.locodoc.com/
Or here: http://www.runway13.com/micromotors.htm
http://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/
There are more places, but it’s a start.
Andre
Are you referring to the infamous ‘Porter mogul,’ known in Japan as Benkei?
The models are actually HOj, 1:80 scale. That’s why some features might seem oversize. Of course the prototypes ran on 3’6" gauge rails…
There were originally 6 locos in the class. #2, Benkei, was on display at the Museum of Transportation in Kanda (Tokyo) when I saw it about 46 years ago. That was the reason for the generally-used name. the lead locomotive, #1, was named Yoshitsune.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with one locomotive from 1873)
Look at this as a challenge.
http://www.shastasprings.com/repower/guide_to_repowering_and_regearing.htm
NWSL use to have a nice PDF page about re-gearing and re-motoring those locos but the page is gone. I have the paper copies from years ago and the old NWSL site use to show up until not to long ago. I had the URL stored in my PC but the link is dead. You might contact Dave at NWSL.
Rich
Nevin, I went down that same route perhaps 30 years ago with a couple of F.E.D.'s. If the better portion of your hobby interest is rebuilding and tinkering and tinkering and…then maybe give this project a try. Otherwise, I’d suggest reconsidering. As to a hope of getting them to operate up to today’s standards, that would be unlikely unless you are really experienced at such rebuilds. I’d point out as well that finding places to add enough additional weight to these models to give any reasonable tractive effort is really tough, if not all but impossible, especially in those models with the in-loco motors.
CNJ831
Nevin,
Roundbell make a kit to remotor this model. It is not difficult to install and will turn the engine into one of your best runners. Check Roundbell’s listing at:http://locodoc.com/SuperGlideDriveHOn3.html.
Voyager