Will todays engines run on th following? Model Rectifier corp, ThrottlePack, Modle 500 from the '60’s or early '70’s.
As long as it has a “variable” 12V DC output most any older power pack wil run anything made today although personally I would suggest one of the newer MRC powerpacks such as the 9500 series with the amp and volt guages built in, but your old ones will still work.
Mark
Some will, some won’t. The better quality motors in many of today’s modern models just don’t draw enough current to drop voltage through the rheostat of those old power packs. For those locos, there will be no control - crack the throttle and they will take off at full speed. Most things will be fine - the ones I have that definitely will not run on an old rheostat pack (for HO - they work fine on an N scale one) are my Stewart switchers which have Canon motors in them. P2K locos work fine.
It doesn;t hurt anything (unless the sudden speed makes it crach into soemthign else on the track), as the loco doesn’t get more than 12 volts, it’s just not controllable. Transistor throttles do not rely on the current flow through the loco motor to cause a voltage drop in a rheostat for control. That’s why, once N scale was on the scene, you had an HO and N scale model of powerpack - N scale motors draw less current so need a different rheostat value to work properly. Once transistor throttles became commonplace, this went away - there is nothing in the way a transistor throttle works that would make it dependent on the motor draw the way a rheostat pack is.
–Randy