Does anyone convert two rail to three rail?

I  never heard of anyone doing that Derek. I'm not saying it can't be done but there would be a ton of work to accomplish it.  Think about the roller pick up being rewired from one side of the engine wheel assembly. I know MTH premier engines can go either way but they are designed and built for that versatility. Any cars that need a power pick up will need almost the same attention. Remember the wheels in three rail should be at the same electrical potential for proper operation. If you where to keep one side of the wheel assembly isolated from the other you may as well stay with two rail.

That all  said just because I never heard of anyone going from two to three rail in no ways means it can't or hasn't been done. But I will say with confidence that it's not worth the trouble.

If memory serves me Laidoffsick bought a few MTH Diesels because the kadee couplers and did the conversion.

I agree with GG1MAN.

If you are asking about locomotives, steam, diesel, or electric, it is darned near impossible to convert, i.e. down-grade, original 2-Rail SCALE  locomotives to 3-Rail. Concerning rolling stock, I have quite a number of freight cars and caboose that are 2-Rail SCALE, and simply use them as they are, since all my stuff has been up-graded with Kadee couplers anyway.

When you're done 'converting' you now have a hundred dollar model...or less.

Just my opinion.

I will convert the AHM 0-8-0 steam loco from it's 2 rail set up to a 3 railer.  The AHM loco has deeper flanges than most 2 rail locos so it needs a re-wire and center rollers.  I also have a AHM Reno that I hope I can do the same too.

I understand the difficulty of the locomotive side of things. I guess I really am more curious about the cars. These business cars are simply stunning and with a truck swap and coupler swap I imagine that they could go three rail. It really is a downgrade, but if you want a specific car that has only been done in brass, this would be an option that MIGHT be reversible. 

On the flips side I'm sitting here looking at eighteen K Line American Freedom Train cars that were two railed from three rail models and thinking about if they could be three railed again if the trucks were found. 

All interesting things to think about. 

One thing to remember about trying to make 2-Rail SCALE passenger equipment work in the "3-Rail world" is, very few folks have layouts with curves large enough to run such cars.

I convert a number of 2 rail cars to 3 rail. I do a fair amount of work to them to make sure they will perform the same as a 3 rail design. Here is a Rivarossi 2 rail converted....

Hot Water posted:

One thing to remember about trying to make 2-Rail SCALE passenger equipment work in the "3-Rail world" is, very few folks have layouts with curves large enough to run such cars.

I agree. Looking at the cars which are generally 21 inch cars, 0-72 would be a stretch without long coupler shanks, etc. What radius are the O scale guys generally running for these types of cars?

Locos can be done, of course. Usually very difficult - but not always. If you start with one (steam) that has fairly large flanges and blind center drivers (some did/do), put the appropriate electronics in the tender with modified or 3-rail trucks already sporting pickups, then run a tether to the loco - done. (Lots of fiddling on the way to that "done".) I've done one, and I have a friend who has another steamer that was 2-rail. Excellent runner.

Some of these - most of these - locos will not be comfortable with even 36" radius (our 072 diameter) curves, but some will be after minimum fiddling. Some aren't worth it.

Cars (like the tender) can be pretty simple, especially freight cars. I do it all the time. I have several. Methods include:

Simply re-trucking to Hi-Rail trucks.

Re-wheeling the 2-rail trucks with Hi-Rail wheels and putting a Keil-Line O-gauge dummy coupler in the coupler pocket.

Weaver coupler on the original truck bolster.

All of this involves common sense and fiddling around. Ride height is an issue, sometimes, and may require invisible modification to the car bolsters.

An important consideration is: choose your battles. Some pieces are not worth it; some just fall into place. I've messed with both. 

Beautiful passenger cars can be converted to 3-rail trucks fairly (I emphasize fairly) easily. Often. They all can be, but, again, common sense and hands-on experience (start small, in other words; convert a boxcar before tackling the brass Pullman) matter most.

It's all just stuff, dude - pieces and parts. Make it, change it, skip it - whatever seems logical.

As others, l have done all the brass cabooses l can find that l want (missing a couple not yet found), and a few freight cars, mostly period, such as Hallmark.  I have also three-railed a brass Mack and another rail bus, of vintage and mysterious makes. If I thought l had the skills to three rail a brass McKeen and other railcars (dunno if any steam coaches have been made), as well as steam engines l want, l would tackle them. As for turning thousand dollar car into a hundred dollar car, that might depend on who it was offered to, and it is worthless, unless l can use it.

Certainly doable, especially now that quality parts and electronics to modify as such are easily sourced.  I managed to perform my only  conversion so that a return to 2 rail is possible without any appreciable damage.  Unfortunately, as built, some brass engines don't have the needed weight to handle 3 rail loads, and without traction tires or magnetraction are totally useless on even the slightest grade. 

Without much experience, I can say that adapting cars seems even more daunting.  Swapping trucks with anything but the same company's alternative 3 rail offering always causes more headaches than it's worth.  When the mod becomes that difficult, it usually means an invisible return to stock 2 rail is impossible.

Bruce

I've mentioned ACE and Darstaed tinplate trains from the UK on several posts.  If you like British trains, most of their equipment can be used on 2 or 3 rail.  Two of my locomotives, one ACE 2-10-0 and a Darstaed Pacific actually have switches similar to the run/program switch on Lionel TMCC or Legacy equipment that allows you to go from 2 rail to 3 rail just by moving the switch.  If going to 2 rail, you will want to remove the pickup under the locomotive, which is a 2 minute job at best.  

I converted an Atlas 2 rail car to 3 rail.   Removing the Kadee coupler and the draft gear box was the most difficult part.  It was easy to replace the 2 rail trucks with  Atlas 3 rail trucks.

Larry

 I tried to sell a MTH 3 rail premier diesel engine a while back when I got it. Sometimes I'll buy an engine and I don't need anymore. Anyways, no one wanted to buy it. So I made my own fixed pilots and removed all the three rail stuff like wheels and couplers. I could then run it on my 2 rail layout. However after just a few laps, it just sat on a shelf waiting it's turn. I have too many to run them all.

 Recently, I saw a want add for that exact engine. I contacted the person and he wanted it. So I checked my parts bin and still had the exact stuff I removed. I had not altered anything so the parts went right back on. I sold it as a three rail engine, the way it came from the factory.

 It's nice when you don't alter anything. Everything just swaps out for either 3 rail or 2 rail. I don't cut the tabs off the front of MTH trucks unless I absolutely have to. I got lazy on altering the handrails for the fixed pilots. For a change, it worked out better.

I have done a couple of RY cars.  I used Atlas trucks and a couple of shims to get the right height for these cars.

Norm

I am with Hot.  I have converted 2-rail locomotivesto 3- rail.  The most economical way to convert a steamer is to find a 3- rail locomotive and steal the mechanism.

I did a Lobaugh Berk recently - the customer agreed that I could keep the 2- rail mech, and I slammed a Williams Mike mech in there.  I wouldn't do that all the time - I would have to charge.  But I wanted to see if I could do it:

We converted a $300 Lobaugh into a $100 3-rail loco, and trashed a $250 Williams to do it.  Much cheaper to simply buy a 3- rail locomotive.  Sorry about the lower photo - I tried to delete it - it shows an "in progress" photo.  Note the nice Lionel tender trucks.

On that collection - I would truly like to bid on the MoPac PA pair that was converted from Lionel to 2-rail.

On the K-Line 21" cars - back and forth 3-2 and 2-3 is truly trivial, except that the wires for lights are too short when going 2-rail.  If the converter used the K-Line trucks, you probably can just insert pizza cutter wheelsets.  Best way is to find somebody with 3-rail cars who wants 2-rail cars, and trade parts.  I have a friend with maybe a hundred such cars . . .