Changing Direction of Engineer on MTH Engines

For many, it's not difficult, just pop them open and turn the seats around.  Of course, you'll also have to do some tinkering so that it starts out in the new "forward" direction, lights, couplers, motor direction, etc.

IIRC some MTH engines that start up long hood forward do have the engineer facing that way. Which engine are you pondering? 

I was looking at an MTH RK Proto 2 GP 7 ( or 9-not sure) and the engineer seems to be facing short hood forward. I think that the particular railroad was more prone to run their engines short hood forward, but for some strange reason (that I honestly can't explain), I prefer to run such engines long hood forward-no matter what is the most prototypical for that railroad. 

The engineer can easily be turned around and re glued and if i’m Not mistaken you would have to swap the leads on the motors to start in the opposite direction or lock the engine in one direction.  The lights I think all you would have to do is swap out the plugs on the board so they will light in the direction you want them to go and the same for the couplers. 

I reversed the positions of the crew on my MTH 20-2337-1 New York Central GP-9.  Although reversing the crew was relatively easy, other mods were a bit more challenging.  As GRJ mentioned, the wiring for the lights, couplers and motors had to be redone in order to have the long hood be the front.  I also swapped the positions of the red and green LEDs, so that the green were in the long hood and the red in the short hood.  The other issue I recall is that I had to relocate the interior lighting in order to illuminate the crew in their new positions.

The last time I worked on an MTH proto one GP-9, the engineer could not be turned unless he was sawed in half. The motor shield and the shape of the window prevented an easy reversal. It could probably be done, but was a bit more work than it seemed at first glance.

"have to swap the leads on the motors to start in the opposite direction"

True - but swap the leads in the plugs coming from the motors to the boards, rather than cutting/re-soldering anything - something I did a couple of times years ago until I had a blinding flash of well, duh!

If you cannot get to the plugs without getting hip-deep in board removal, the soldering can be easier... 

I once swapped the leads to the motors (soldering), but the probem I then had was the directional lighting.  You'll have to change those also.

turtle7 posted:

I was looking at an MTH RK Proto 2 GP 7 ( or 9-not sure) and the engineer seems to be facing short hood forward. I think that the particular railroad was more prone to run their engines short hood forward, but for some strange reason (that I honestly can't explain), I prefer to run such engines long hood forward-no matter what is the most prototypical for that railroad. 

You should check the sides of the model's under frame, and look for the small letter "F". THAT indicates the "Front" of any given unit. Some railroads designated the long hood as "Front", while other railroads designated the short hood as "Front", Which way the locomotive operated on any given day, may change, thus you might have to be changing the crew members every few days.