Has anyone ever 2 railed a Kline/lionel sd70 Mac? If so, what wheel sets did you use, and how involved was it to reconfigure the electrical pickup?
thanks, paul
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I did five K- Line Train Masters. It took one kit each from NWSL, a " Puller" from the same Co., and about three hours worth of effort, each. I think the most difficult part was coupler pockets.
Two of them had insulated trucks, because I split the steel frame and added an insulator - but the three that I made for me just require a "tender" for pickup. I use express reefers or baggage cars, but anything will do.
If you are not mechanically inclined, consider MTH, where, for the same price, you just drop in wheelsets.
Take a close look at the trucks on those SD70 models. I believe I was sent one of these to convert several years ago and could not fix the pilots to the frame of the engine because the beautiful brake detail on these trucks was located considerably behind the steps and would not allow the truck to go around sharp model curves so I had to leave the pilots attached to the trucks. If you were willing to experiment with moving the truck sideframes inboard or remove some of the brake detail you might be able to mount the pilots but I do not know for sure.
The K Line Trainmasters are a much easier conversion and there is no problem with truck/pilot interference.
Just something to look at before you start this project. I think the engine I converted was a Lionel product.
Joe Foehrkolb
