Chris' recent thread on refurbishing his Shasta loco with a modern can motor and running it in traditional (not command) mode has got some of us thinking more about this option. I came at it from a little different direction, taking a PS-1 engine, which of course already has the can motor, and removing the PS-1 circuit board, replacing it with a simple Williams reversing board ($35) to run the engine as a conventional beast.
Sunrise, in response to your question, here are some shots of the engine. The can motor allows for some smooth, steady slower speeds.
I have mixed feelings about the Millenium. In my book it's kind of over-the-top extravagance to the point of bad taste, and I turned down several opportunities to buy one. Buit in recent years they kept getting cheaper, and finally this one came along at I would have to say an extremely low price for an MTH Mayflower set of any description. The thing I like about it is the names of the 4 big train makers on each of the cars: the regular Mayflower doesn't have that.
I had sworn off PS-1 as a failed interim technology that gave me more headaches than fun, but the Williams board offered another alternative. I approached it with some hesitation, but was very pleased how simple the swap-out was and how sweet is the result. I may even look for more PS-1 locos on the cheap to convert.
Anybody else playing around with modern can motors in tinplate, but minus the command boards?
