09-06-2009, 07:35 AM
How much room do you have within the boiler of that loco, Pete? And is the backhead area open or closed? You should be able to find a suitable motor, although altering the PDT to power a single axle might work, too, perhaps by mounting it vertically or on an angle within the boiler. If you could accomplish the mounting, all that would be required would be mounting the rear drivers onto the PDT axle.
I had an Athearn RDC which I re-powered with a PDT - it ran nicely and was able to pull a dummy trailer, too. Surprisingly, it suffered from split axle gears, which I repaired with NWSL replacements before selling the pair.
Another option for re-powering is to mount a new motor in the tender, then run an articulated drive shaft to a NWSL gearbox. I re-motored two brass CPR Ten Wheelers, for a friend, in this manner, as the boilers were too small to accept any of the can motors available at that time. Initially, motor torque caused the tenders to lean upon start-up, but I solved that problem by installing bearing blocks on the tenders' underframes.
To transmit the power to the wheels, I simply left the open frame of the original motor in place, replacing the armature with a longer shaft that extended through the original motor's frame. The worm was then re-installed on the new shaft, and a U-joint added to the other end, where it extended through the back end of the motor frame. The pair ran smoothly and pulled well.
I really like that tender in your first photo - is that from MDC? I have a body for one of those and have been looking in vain for another. I wish that they'd re-issue some of their older stuff - one of their best items was the brass handrail stanchions, which were even nicer than those from Precision Scale.
Wayne
I had an Athearn RDC which I re-powered with a PDT - it ran nicely and was able to pull a dummy trailer, too. Surprisingly, it suffered from split axle gears, which I repaired with NWSL replacements before selling the pair.
Another option for re-powering is to mount a new motor in the tender, then run an articulated drive shaft to a NWSL gearbox. I re-motored two brass CPR Ten Wheelers, for a friend, in this manner, as the boilers were too small to accept any of the can motors available at that time. Initially, motor torque caused the tenders to lean upon start-up, but I solved that problem by installing bearing blocks on the tenders' underframes.
To transmit the power to the wheels, I simply left the open frame of the original motor in place, replacing the armature with a longer shaft that extended through the original motor's frame. The worm was then re-installed on the new shaft, and a U-joint added to the other end, where it extended through the back end of the motor frame. The pair ran smoothly and pulled well.
I really like that tender in your first photo - is that from MDC? I have a body for one of those and have been looking in vain for another. I wish that they'd re-issue some of their older stuff - one of their best items was the brass handrail stanchions, which were even nicer than those from Precision Scale.
Wayne