converting a MTH RK switcher to 2 rail

I LOVE to see other 2 railers converting stuff like this!  Great work.

Now for switcher #2! Yes, I know... I still haven't finished the first one. I made a pilot and it was a fair amount of work. So I'm making a mold of it out of silicone and it's taking a long time to dry. So I started #2.

This should be an easy one. It's a MTH PS3 South Buffalo RK S2 switcher that's already 3/2 convertible. Yeah right.....

The first thing here is that one truck is closer to the end than the other. So that's a good clue. Ends up that unlike my other MTH 4 axle diesels, this one has two identical trucks facing the same direction. More on that to come.

Removed the trucks to get at the stock 3 rail couplers and pilots for removal.

So my attempt to mount the pilots that a forum member gave me, started off OK. I had to drill the cast frame to accept small metric screws. Got the first one mounted by luck.

Started the second one and noticed that the truck's sideframes hit the pilot? Started grinding the rear of the new pilot, then the truck's tab, then the pilot some more! Became apparent that the offset is different. Still didn't identify fully what was going on. Got the second pilot mounted and went on to the wheel swap.

I have a few sets of 6 axle wheels right here, so I grabbed a set. Swapped out the first truck carefully using the wheels with the insulated bushing near the gears.

Started on the second truck and that's where it got interesting! The wheel sets match the other truck? That's a problem because normally they are reversed.

To skip ahead I found that I needed to take 2 axles apart, and reverse the bushings to get them oriented correctly. I slid an axle into a large crescent wrench and snugged it down against the plastic insulator. I then used a drift and hammered the axle downward while supporting the wrench. Reversed the bushings and put it back together. I laid the wheel face down on the flat bench and drove the axle back in until I got the correct wheel spacing of near 1.110 to 1.118 I believe? I measured a few MTH engines to come up with that. They run well on my layout so that's what I went with.

Nice work, Joe.

You're really hard over on this 2-rail stuff, nice job getting those to run!

Darn 3/2 switch burned me again!

I made a long draft (post) here about how I thought the wiring was wrong to the switch. I finally drew a diagram and realized it should work as wired?

So after taking the engine apart and making a post that I deleted anyways, it's solved. I rocked the 3/2 switch around a dozen times total to get it to work. I had it once sooner and realized it didn't connect for long.

Funny how something works on the bench and when you carry to the layout, it quits.

Now the SB Alco S2 runs. Wasted the whole morning, but it works.

FWIW, I've taken quite a few of these out for people to solve the issue of them crapping out.  Using a ten cent switch to switch track power doesn't seem like a particularly bright thing to do anyway.

The camera was in focus right in front of it. So it starts out blurry.

Yes, John, I agree.

I did say again! Urrggg!

I tried to make a mold and cast a second pilot for the last several days. I got bad silicone, bad resin, etc. I finally gave up. Our grandson was over last week and asked why it was taking so long? He's good at ordering me around. He just doesn't help much yet.

I spent all morning modifying the floating pilot and making a shim for it. It ended up much too low!

So I just threw on the old pilot and mounted the Atlas electric couplers. Wasted time! Urrggg!

a little rough, but this is what I was going for.....

I hit the wrong coupler on the remote the first time. I usually forget which end is the front on these.

It's just a quick video to show it uncouple from the remote. I rushed the engine a few times trying to also run the camera. Our grandson should be pleased that he can now do yard switching to build his trains.

Engineer-Joe,

You state on your posts "why go back to DCC when I have DCS".    I think the reason became obvious this summer.    The sole provider of DCS is closing up shop and the support and development for the system may go away.

On the other hand, there are at least nn major suppliers for DCC so if one goes under, general support and development continue.    Mfg I can think of are Lenz, Digitrax, Northcoast Engineering, CVP, and MRC that make complete systems.    There are a couple of others in Europe too, I think.   And there are some around such as SoundTraxx and QSI that make only receivers.

I have been very cautious about MTH and to some extent Lionel providing proprietary systems that are not licensed to other mfg.

Ah, yeah. Thanks.

It has on board DCC if I ever chose to use it.

Just as a note, my boss, our grandson, never ran these switchers after the initial test firing. He was the one pushing me to convert them.

Then I got the MTH bigboy and that was that!

I should have converted the MP15AC that I wanted to in the first place. Maybe I'll run into another set of 3/2 trucks somewhere.

So they sit all lonely on the shelf again. So when I'm in the basement next time and I remember, I'll have to put these back to work on the RR!

They'll need to earn their keep.

Northwest Short Line has replacement 2-rail wheels for the MTH Trucks. If push comes to shove, you could use those. The catch is you'll need their heavy-duty puller to get the original wheels off. I've been considering that for my older 3-rail engines which I was going to upgrade to either 2-rail TMCC or Proto-3 if I can get the boards.

Hi @Engineer-Joe!

So, you used the stock MTH RK pilots to mount to the MP15DC?  I was looking at an Amtrak one, and was wondering if this is what I would do...

Thanks!

- Mario

@CentralFan1976 posted:

Hi @Engineer-Joe!

So, you used the stock MTH RK pilots to mount to the MP15DC?  I was looking at an Amtrak one, and was wondering if this is what I would do...

Thanks!

- Mario

I missed this reply, sorry.

@Engineer-Joe posted:

writing this while I have the time. Pics to follow!

......He also decided we would 2 rail the newer PS3 SW1500 against my better judgement.

The engine I converted first above, is a sw1500 I believe.

I have the mp15 in CSX PS2 that was supposed to get the conversion also. I need to figure out what trucks I'll use.

I believe a custom H shaped shim would do the trick for mounting the pilots. They look pretty good for stock RK.

Any chance of a close-up shot of those truck side frames?

here's the MTH MP15

and the SW1500 converted to 2 rail. Front pilot is stock, rear pilot is a plastic custom casting:

(I hope the side frames are clear enough?)

and posing together on the bench for a pic

yes.  Thanks.  Do you think they are scale length?

@bob2 posted:

yes.  Thanks.  Do you think they are scale length?

??? I haven't checked that. I was happy that the wheels on the new trucks seemed to line up with the side frames.

That left me wondering, why MTH did not offer this in a 2 rail version? I believe they stuck with the stock RK 3 rail offering. The MP15 models seemed to me to be better than the rest or older stuff. I think they could have been upgraded to premier level and 2 rail.

At least one more model might have been offered for us 2 rail people. (the premier Alco S2 is at least 3/2 convertible.)

My opinions and guesses on what should happen, are almost always wrong!

@Engineer-Joe posted:

??? I haven't checked that. I was happy that the wheels on the new trucks seemed to line up with the side frames.

That left me wondering, why MTH did not offer this in a 2 rail version? I believe they stuck with the stock RK 3 rail offering. The MP15 models seemed to me to be better than the rest or older stuff. I think they could have been upgraded to premier level and 2 rail.

At least one more model might have been offered for us 2 rail people. (the premier Alco S2 is at least 3/2 convertible.)

My opinions and guesses on what should happen, are almost always wrong!

My guess would be that MTH felt there wouldn't be sufficient interest in that model from the 2 rail crowd for them to go through the trouble and cost of designing a fixed pilot for it. Another thing against it is most 2 railers prefer the single motor drive. However, at almost half the price of a Sunset diesel I would have bought a Rail King SW if offered in 2 rail with fixed pilots and Kadee coupler pads.

It would be great if Atlas made available for separate sale the 3/2 trucks so folks can do conversions on older locomotives that do not have the 3/2 trucks. I once asked Andy Edleman about that a long time ago and he said maybe but it never happened.

Great job on the conversion Joe. I like the sound set in that locomotive.

Reason I asked - I have a captured photo of a "Larry's Trucking" Diesel switcher in a striking orange and gray paint scheme.  The Diesel is close enough to an NW2 for me, except it really needs those truck sideframes.  The MTH look very short to me, but I am not at all well-versed in modern truck side frames.

I do have some orphan Blomberg castings - maybe I will make a "master."

@bob2 posted:

Reason I asked - I have a captured photo of a "Larry's Trucking" Diesel switcher in a striking orange and gray paint scheme.  The Diesel is close enough to an NW2 for me, except it really needs those truck sideframes.  The MTH look very short to me, but I am not at all well-versed in modern truck side frames.

I do have some orphan Blomberg castings - maybe I will make a "master."

Sorry Sir! again I missed a post here.

The axle spacing of the sideframes looks like around 2"+ or like 52.6 mm

The overall width at the brake device arms (middle) looks like around 3.5" or 85.5mm.

It's slightly longer at the bottom brake adjuster detail.