Trucks with electrical pickups for O scale 3-rail?

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I’d like to get some O scale trucks with electrical pickups. I want to add lights to a couple of my railcars. I run on O-27 three rail track. Any suggestions?

I was thinking of the K-Line Bettendorf trucks (K5001SP) but I don’t know if they are for 2-rail or 3-rail.

Any advice?

Thanks,

JeffPo

2

My experiences with K-Line castings and trucks in particular are not good:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=64908

3

When were these cars made and who made them?
There are some add-on parts for older Lionel cars floating around at train meets by the guys who sell parts, be sure to take what you need center pick-up shoes for with you, not all wheelsets have the same distance between wheels.
I have used an add-on pick-up shoe with a Lehigh Valley quad hopper(Lionel 6436-1) to help power an SD-45 that was having some problems.
Lee Fritz

4

You can get Lionel replacement trucks and some pickups from the Lionel Parts department. It gets a little complicated as they have used several deferent methods of attaching trucks over the years. If you have a caboose with pickup trucks that you can use, use the cat. no. of that caboose to search for replacement trucks.

Lionel parts web page:

http://www.lionel.com/ForTheHobbyist/Findex.cfm

Also a number of parts dealers on line.

http://www.hobbysurplus.com/lionelparts.asp

http://www.electricnorman.com/

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/first.htm

This should get you started.

5

phillyreading,
Some cars are Lionel and some are K-Line. At this point, it’s basically some cabooses. And that CNJ crane tender I just got from K-Line isn’t illuminated. I was leaning toward K-Line because they seem lower in price, and match what I’ve already replaced on some cars. I haven’t had the problems that lionelsoni has had (knock on wood).

jefelectric,
I’ll check out those links. One of them had some by Atlas, but they seemed kind of pricey and maybe a little bigger.

6

jeffpo,
Try to get Lionel trucks and not Atlas as there are some major differances between the two types, like where the knuckle coupler goes or wheel size. Atlas sells replacement wheelsets that are made to fit Atlas, UNSURE what else they may fit!
Maybe Weaver Trains has something to help you.
As of now K-Line could be un-available.
Lee Fritz

7

lionel makes metal sprung trucks that are sold seperately for about twelve bucks. they accept a three piece electrical pickup system, made for this aftermarket truck.

the trucks are available just about everywhere. the electrical pickup system parts i order through parts dealers.