Here a some photos from a recent 2-rail conversion of a Lionel Chessie NE caboose. This caboose has been around for awhile so there was no recycling of the trucks. The trucks were wrong anyway so they were replaced with Atlas 2-rail friction bearing trucks which are correct for a Western Maryland Northeast caboose.
I used a 0.125” thick piece of styrene to properly mount the Kadee 745’s. I fastened the spacers to the ends using CA glue after the couplers were secured to the spacers with 2-56 5/16” screws. I cut the spacers in a 15mm X 15mm square to fit between the frame and the body.
The smoke unit was removed as was the switch. I don’t care much for smoke in my locomotives or cabooses. These smoke units get hot fast and run the risk of melting the caboose.
I wanted to conceal the solder joints for the lights so I removed the contacts from the 1st truck with no problem and made the hot/ground connections on the tops side then fastened the contacts to the truck. Great...but the 2nd truck wasn’t so easy. One of the screws securing the copper contact didn’t want to play nice so I just soldered to the underside. Of course, I attached the wires to the wrong end of the truck so I had to redo the connections again. But, all’s well that ends well and the lights work fine.
By the way, I drilled 2 holes into the frame to allow for the wires to connect to the trucks. Lionel attached a C clip to each screw that secured the trucks and ran the hot wire from it. I believe the screw not only attached the truck but also the pick up roller and the chassis was used the for ground so the extra openings were needed for the 2-rail conversion.
Overall, I’m happy with the end result. 😊
