Repower Athearn H0 CF-7

[faraway]

I've seen ads for Buhl (spelling?) can motors made in Germany. I can't remember where I saw them or who carried them here in the states, but I would expect them to be readily available in Europe. I'm wondering if you could just buy the motors and make up your own drive or adapt the Athearn drive to them? I think Northwest Shortline makes various pieces to adapt various sized motor shafts to gear boxes.

There are two brands of high quality can motors used for model railroad. They are Buehler and Faulhaber. I have lots of Faulhaber motors in my German models installed. But it is not the motor alone. A German company named sb-modellbau is doing a job similar to NWSL. But they offer the motor with very good mounted and balanced flywheels and necessary couplings to attach to trucks etc. The results are extreme well. Another one man shop (Holger Graehler) is doing complete redesign of engines (incl. steam) to have a top notch drive unit. That has a steep price up to $1000... But he is not doing US models anymore. He is booked for month in advance with German models.
The problem with A-line is not so much the motor. It is the not balanced motor/flywheel assembly and low quality plastic couplings between motor and truck. They would ruin any balanced motor too.
However, with some reduced expectations and a flexible motor mount (by flexible glue or tape) are the results quite good. I did expect from A-line results as I am used to from sb-modellbau that are at least as good as state of the art Atlas engines. My fault...
I have now four Santa Fe CF-7 that run at least like some older P2K engines (e.g. GP30). I am happy with that

However, the reason why I posted the story about the tape is the easy handling and the easy way to attach the motor. If you are in doubt if it will fit use the tape and may be later some flexible glue. If it does not work as expected remove the tape in ten seconds and redo it. It is very easy to handle. I did some experiments with the horizontal alignment of the motor. I would not glue it five times in different positions but with the tape it was very easy to do some testing what will be the best position.
I did open one CF-7 an hour ago because a cable was shaking at the shell. The motor was still very tight held by the tape. That looked very good.