Converting an ATLAS 2-rail engine DC to a 3 rail TMCC engine.
So I really like the Atlas Scale FM Erie-Built Milwaukee Road (Olympian Hiawatha). But as it was made and sold a while ago, I was apparently asleep at the switch when they came out. And I failed to recognize that Atlas made nice engines; so I never acquired one. A search begins.
I have been looking on eBay for 3-rail versions a while now. No luck. Until I saw both Atlas 2-rail A's and an Atlas 3-rail TMCC B unit up for auction on Ebay. Further, on the Forum,concurrently Matt was selling both Atlas Milwaukee Road FMs (not Olympian) TMCC 3-rail A and dummy B. Neither Matt's forum offer nor the eBay seller were related.
Thus, I bought and won all five(5) Erie FM units and that is how this thread falls into the category of: really Crazy to spend that Amount of Money to do this!" So if you have been keeping track, I have now 3 Atlas Scale FM Erie-Built Milwaukee Road (Olympian Hiawatha) (MROH) Powered A, Dummy A and a TMCC powered B as well a 2 Atlas Milwaukee Road(MR) FMs; Powered A and Dummy B.
So what I am doing now is removing the electronic stuff, light circuit from the 2-rail MROH DC Powered A Shell and after also removing the light circuit and antenna from the MR TMCC Powered A shell then surgically inserting the MR TMCC electronics into the MROH shell. This feels like removing the guts from a lobster tail only to reinsert different lobster guts into another shell.
As to the Dummy A 2-rail MROH, the MR dummy B unit has the same frame but I will likely need different trucks to accommodate the O-gauge couplers. The only issue being that the 2-rail front Pilot is fixed and attached to the frame whereas the TMCC 3-rail coupler is fixed to the truck. I will need a different front(rear) truck to accommodate the O-gauge couplers. More $$.
The remaining parts I will try to sell.
Crazy I know!!!
