Looking for source for power trucks for a 2-Rail MTH Interurban set

NWSL Magic Carpet drives; might 2 per truck with one powered truck in at least 2 cars depending on grades and weight of the cars.  Quite a few of my trolleys that have only under the floor space use these drives.

Where might you have found these?  I went to NWSL, but no dice there.

What about the O Stanton Drive trucks?  Any experience with those?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Where might you have found these?  I went to NWSL, but no dice there.

Both interesting and disappointing........hmmmmmmm..........might be worth a phone call next year.

What about the O Stanton Drive trucks?  Any experience with those?

No personal experience; looks like you're on your own on attaching sideframes, but they do seem to have a variety of wheelbase sizes, so something of the right size might be available.

This may be a bit of a kludge, but how about fitting a set of K-line interurban trucks with scale flange wheels?  They're underfloor units. 

Mitch

https://ogrforum.com/...8#158111058767019408

I know people who have used the NWSL Stanton drives

https://nwsl.com/collections/o-stanton-drives

They will work quite well pulling  a few interurbans.  Yes, you will have to do some fitting for the truck sides, but for someone of your skills its should be easy.

The only issue will be if you want to run these under DCS: You will have to cobble together a flywheel of some sort. Possibly a small diameter wheel around an axle, with your own custom tach timing tape? If you go that route, let us know, as I have a Sunset MP 54 that needs the same thing.

Another option is to get an interurban combine, and put one vertical motor driven truck in the passenger compartment

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

This may be a bit of a kludge, but how about fitting a set of K-line interurban trucks with scale flange wheels?  They're underfloor units.

Already considered, but they're too tall, something that is not suitable.  I'd also have to round up the correct sized wheels.  In doing measurements, when you put scale wheels of the correct diameter on the K-Line trucks, it appears they might actually not clear the truck chassis.  Finally, the side frames are built into the trucks, taking them off removes the truck mounting provisions as well as no way to mount the new sideframes.

@sleepmac posted:

https://ogrforum.com/...8#158111058767019408

Doesn't look like reality yet, and they're looking to be way more expensive than the NWSL O Stanton Drive trucks.

@John Sethian posted:

I know people who have used the NWSL Stanton drives

https://nwsl.com/collections/o-stanton-drives

They will work quite well pulling  a few interurbans.  Yes, you will have to do some fitting for the truck sides, but for someone of your skills its should be easy.

The only issue will be if you want to run these under DCS: You will have to cobble together a flywheel of some sort. Possibly a small diameter wheel around an axle, with your own custom tach timing tape? If you go that route, let us know, as I have a Sunset MP 54 that needs the same thing.

Another option is to get an interurban combine, and put one vertical motor driven truck in the passenger compartment

These do look like the current front runner, I'm not sure I've seen a better option.

I'd suggest trying one -- two if necessary -- power truck from a Rivarossi 2 rail loco;  you have the C-Liner, V160, or the E444 to chose from, with the first being the most likely from cost and availability.  I myself wouldn't bother changing the sideframes;  the ones you illustrate aren't correct for a Blueliner anyway, but look like -- I haven't checked -- what you'd have seen under older MP54 trailers.  You can 'try before installing' by just seeing if the donor loco(s) can pull your consist.  If the cars are lit and have individual pickups, consider trainlining them to reduce drag.

Do you run these cars under catenary ?  If not, why not just bookend them with a pair of Reading diesels as the RDG did when power was out, etc.

SZ

How about something like this?  I wonder how well these trucks would work?

AHM Rivarossi O Scale 2R DC Santa Fe Fairbanks Morse Diesel Engine W20

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

How about something like this?

Well, it might -- that's what I was suggesting in the post right above.  But be aware that ex-factory, only one truck is powered, so you may need to buy a second unit if needed.  One nice advantage of this approach is that you get one or two [ hopefully decent ] FM body shells you can mount on 3R chassis.

Not sure I would recommend that particular unit you illustrated.  The PRR version looks better anyway.

SZ

Well, if I only get one power truck, I'd probably be more inclined to go with the new option of O Stanton Drive trucks.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, if I only get one power truck, I'd probably be more inclined to go with the new option of O Stanton Drive trucks.

I'll be interested to learn how you mount the sideframes.

@mwb posted:

I'll be interested to learn how you mount the sideframes.

My guess would be to epoxy a mount of some kind to the truck, hard to say without having the truck and sideframe in hand to see.  It would be nice if they had a spec sheet for the truck with dimensions.

Not being a 2-rail guy, what's the wheel tread specification refer to?

I'm not sure what the #s represent but a wheel tread of "115" is what a P48 modeler would use which is true 1/4 scale. The wheel tread would look very narrow but true to scale.

A lot of 2-railers like myself settle on "145" which is designed to run on 5' gauge track (1-1/4").

Thanks, I assumed it was something about the width, but I confess I never saw those specifications before.  So, I suspect for my purposes, I'd probably want the 145 for more trouble-free performance.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

My guess would be to epoxy a mount of some kind to the truck, hard to say without having the truck and sideframe in hand to see.  It would be nice if they had a spec sheet for the truck with dimensions.

Yup.  Some unknowns  in this equation.  You'll be salvaging the sideframes or copies of the same from your present cars.

Yes, that's tread width.  So unless your track is up to spec all about, the wider is probably the better.

Welcome to 2 rail DC John.

@harley rider posted:

Welcome to 2 rail DC John.

Well, it's probably a Cameo Visit, I'm not staying.

Q-Car Company has a variety of solutions. I believe they are the kits that were used on my trolleys from The Car Works.

http://www.qcarcompany.com/inf...ml#Truck_Conversions

Looks like the have a variety of applications. In my case, although I did not do the conversion, it appears as though the small motor fits INSIDE the truck side frames and between the axles (possibly with some bending/reshaping of the bolster).

@lionel1946 posted:

Q-Car Company has a variety of solutions. I believe they are the kits that were used on my trolleys from The Car Works.

http://www.qcarcompany.com/inf...ml#Truck_Conversions

Looks like the have a variety of applications. In my case, although I did not do the conversion, it appears as though the small motor fits INSIDE the truck side frames and between the axles (possibly with some bending/reshaping of the bolster).

They look interesting, but at those prices, I think it's not going to happen.

Having kit-bashed some Labelle motor freights in a past life I have to ask if any folks are running Q-Car trucks on 3 R Gargraves track? I know: Why would you? I never could do that successfully as the owner had warned me. Went to the older Pittman trucks and all was fine.  The Pittman units worked on 027 tubular which was my self-imposed requirement. I know the Pittman will not meet the need as it takes up too much room inside the car.

The reason I ask is that the first photo from John sure looks like 3 R Gargraves. Are you going to hang some overhead or am I just confused.... again.

Jim K

@Bogart posted:

Having kit-bashed some Labelle motor freights in a past life I have to ask if any folks are running Q-Car trucks on 3 R Gargraves track

If you read the whole thread, you'll see I only sat it on that track to do some measurements, it would be running on Atlas or Gargraves 2-rail track if I ever get it going.

Sorry for that missed fact.

Jim K