Sure looks like O scale traction is really dead in the water when it comes to new products. Does anyone have any decent rumors (not wish lists) about Atlas/Corgi/Lionel/MTH/Williams future plans?
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Nope, but I continue to keep my fingers crossed.
Somebody creating a 3-rail power truck that could be adapted to existing 2-rail models out there could help things out a lot.
There once was an outfit called Methodology that produced something called a "Truck Mounted Traction Unit" (TMTU). It was even reviewed in OGR long ago. The TMTU consisted of a slot-car motor contained within a Delrin frame that hung it from and geared it to an O gauge wheelset, similar to the way full-size traction motors are mounted on real-life locomotive wheelsets. As long as you had something to hold the motor in place against the bolster or between the sideframes, you could power an O gauge freight truck with twin motors. A four-motored trolley would be trivial with this system, and the way the system was priced, you'd likely spend less than you would for the trolley/interurban carbody itself.
Methodology vanished without a trace not too long after they were reviewed. Too bad really--I thought it was a more workable solution than the spring-belt drives that don't really transmit much tractive effort to the belt-driven wheelsets.
---PCJ
