When did can motors start appearing in “O” gauge?
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been a long time now Lionel, MTh and Williams plus others 01 /28/2012 but just a guess but I actually believe was years before that ps1 was in the 90's?
1970's with Williams. Lionel used RS280 truck mounted motors beginning right around 1980.
Are you asking about any can motor or more specifically "China drive" (vertical motor mounted on the power truck with worm gear drive) can motors? If the former Pittman "can" (fully enclosed) motors have been used in O scale for many years.
The "China drive" is really just an adaptation of the very familiar Lionel Postwar vertical motor drive wherein a can motor is substituted for the Lionel Universal 3-pole open-frame "Pullmor" (a term coined, I believe, by MPC) motor.
I agree with WBC. Very late '70s / early '80s.
The advantages of a high quality DC "can" motor such as a Pittman or an LGB Buehler are relatively low current draw and cool running, plus very smooth operation due to having seven or more poles. Definitely no ozone here!
I think "pullmor" was actually a Gilbert phrase that MPC adopted. The first can motors on a truck I believe was with Williams.
LGB was using seven-pole Buehler motors in 1968.
Yes, LGB's seven pole can motors are without equal, in my opinion. Starter sets are supplied with a half amp power pack. Or at least they were in the nineties. Even larger LGB locos draw is less than an amp or two at most.
Lionel 6-8350 from the 6-1380 US Steel Industrial Switcher Set, 1973.
TRW
I think the first Lionel 'large' engine to use a can motor was 8263 Santa Fe GP7 from 82/83
A longer memory than the MPC era is required.
Pulmor power was the term American Flyer used for the traction tires that were bonded onto the locomotive wheels. When AF went out of business, Lionel bought the company and all the intellectual property and reworked the name to call their open frame series wound universal motors.
Lionel also had 2 2-6-4's in 1980 with a small can motor. And in about '77 cheap steam loco. Workin on the railroad all plastic 0-4-0.
Flyer and Lionel spelling was different. Lionel is Pulmor, Flyer is Pul-Mor.
