MTH PRR LS25m, Revisited

nice job of modeling!

Thanks Tom! Maybe if I'm ambitious enough I'll finish it tonight. It seems to be struggling with my #5 x-overs. It would be nice to find flanged wheelsets to replace the dummies on the inboard axles.

I doubt I'll extend the handrails at this point. I have way too much other stuff to do..

Very nice work. I have a few cars I need to do that with. Just an off topic question. What are you going to do with the PS2 you took out>?

Awesome!

Thx guys. Mike, right now the PS2 parts are all tied up neatly and stored in an anti-static bag. I figure this engine could be restored to PS2 if I wanted to run DCS someday. I got to run the engine briefly in conventional mode and it worked fine.

Thanks, if you decide to part with it, Please let me know!

Keep us in the loop or the ride height.  I have a few MTH non-powered units that I'd like to lower.

BTW... Were they repowered?  One thing that I want to is to change the sound set in one of my locos to represent one that has been repowered.  For example, the NYC PBs were repowered with EMD prime movers... Since I have an Lionel NYC PB, with RailSounds, upgrading it to a modern sound set and an EMD prime mover should be pretty easy.

With the ERR boards you've added, I doubt they have a Lima (Hamilton) sound set.  So if they were repowered, a more readily available EMD sound set is a good choice.

Since these were twin engine diesels, perhaps two RailSounds boards, perhaps running a Baldwin (from a Shark) and an Alco (Alco S2) would be a close approximation to the turbo 4-stroke, inline eight cylinder diesels in these Limas.

Just some ideas...

Thanks,

Mario

Mario, I don't go that crazy with sounds. I just used an Alco sound set that ERRCo had available. I really have no idea what Lima would have used for a horn on this beast. I'm sure the dual prime movers must have sounded pretty unique. I meant to find my Stauffer's books to see if there was any more info on these engines but I didn't get to it last night.

It looks so cool.  

This makes me want to unleash my MTH Centipedes since need to convert them over to Kadees anyway. Those were my last EOB project I think. I even kept the smoke units in them and bought the hardware from TAS to light them all off at the same time.

Good news... you don't have to fix the pilot!

Has anyone out there ever installed flanged wheels on the inboard axles? I was poking around on MTH's site for part numbers but had no luck. 

Also looking for suggestions on a good wheel puller. I see some on eBay but have yet to get one.

This engine really can't make a dual #5 crossover without the trucks flopping over and derailing. 

Norm, I swapped out the inboard axles on my MTH PA, and I can get some pictures for you.

I actually used a faucet puller from ACE hardware to pull the old plastic wheels off and install a spare wheel set from a old Lionel GP.  I remember the only issue was that this axle floats, allowed to move up and down freely.  So I had drilled a hole in the block and inserted a spring to hold the axle down so it wouldn't ride up and over the rails in curves.  It works awesome!

Thanks,

Mario

Oh yeah, there's that too. They are not riding in a bearing but a vertical slot. Hmm. I think the newer issues have all the wheels flanged but I'm not sure.

I'll get you some pictures when I get home...

Thanks,

Mario

Norm,

Very nice.  I am envious of your work and patience.

The Pennsy transfer diesel is really neat.  I converted mine to TMCC and EOB years ago.

Norm Rish

Hey Norm,

Nice job bashing that PRR transfer diesel.  It looks familiar!!  

Glad to see you are having some fun with it!

Just drilled a hole in the block, and inserted a spring. 

Thx you guys, thx Rob! Mario, I found my faucet puller, good idea for pulling wheels!

Here are a couple quick shots and a short run-by vid now that I weathered it this morning. I may lower the ride height when I get some 7/8" flanged wheel sets to replace those inner blind sets.

Awesome.  Just awesome. 

Thx dude!

Looking good Norm! I enjoy the work-in-progress shots and seeing your process.

Awesome looking locomotive. 

Norm Well done!!!

Steve

Norm,

That is a well done conversion.   

Nothing against the hundreds of O gauge layouts out there but Norm's and Neal Schorr's are what I consider the ideal O gauge layout. 

Good job on the conversion, Norm.

Sorry to bring back an old thread but it seems I have managed to pick another one of these up along with the matching nonpowered unit at York this past October. With my fairly recent foray into 3D printing I thought I'd try a fresh approach to setting up proper fixed pilots. After looking at several photos and a drawing or two I figured out that the MTH swinging pilot is slightly stylized and quite a bit too narrow. I used my lowly Tinkercadding skills to build one up and printed it using my Creality FDM printer to test the fit-up and to see if I was onto something. The idea was to eventually resin print it so I can get more detailing 'molded' in. Here's a shot of the final FMD test print and the potential final resin one:

The general idea is to have it mounted to the sheet metal frame so that the shell can be removed without undoing the pilots. I also tried to fashion the pilots in the general spirit of the MTH model, using style and detail queues from the original part.

At some point I may 3D print replacement plugs for the dynamic brake assemblies.

This reminded me that I got one (unpowered) at a 2015 West Palm Beach, FL train show that someone started two-railing or three-rail scaling; KD couplers but still three-rail wheels when I bought it. Oddly, it has all of the same PRR details that yours has but is painted Santa Fe! Unfortunately all of the underbody detail was removed so if I do anything with it, it may become a slug.

Well, it should be an easy repaint! The fuel tank assembly wouldn't be too hard to replicate with a 3D print. I wasn't going to do anything with the dummy unit but found some photos of these doubleheaded on the internet and in Staufer's Pennsy Power #1.

I wanted to remove the dynamic brake fan/vent details but the way MTH put them on, there's too much paint and fill work to do. I may live with them. I am hoping to get the rest of the parts this week. I ordered some flanged wheels to replace the plastic dummies and some PSC parts to detail the new pilots.

Norm, I'm watching your progress with great anticipation.  I bought one of these beasts in ATSF paint, used, several years ago to nominally represent an EJ&E Baldwin DT 6-6-2000.  It's been lying around in pieces awaiting a paint remover that works.  I can't find any 91% alcohol and brake fluid didn't to work, so now I'm trying Purple Power.  We'll see...

I removed all the PRR antennae, etc, and need to install ERR since the MTH PS guts blew up when I put power to it.  Once I get the paint off I'll begin the rest of the process.

I usually give my PS2 guts away to a pal that can use them. I am stripping the smoke units out too. Very tempted to put Legacy in it as I have a donor diesel candidate laying around. It would be cool if I could get a dual prime mover sounds but the Legacy sounds I have will be coming from a donor GP7 if I go that route.

This video just came up on my YT feed this week and set off a binge. Those Limas have an odd place in my heart from the odd mention in Stauffer's PP2. Your layout and expertise is the dream I had to turn away from to make my bamboo fly rods (google hoffhines rod). I have a couple projects sitting in boxes from the early 2000s that I'll never finish, but your vids got me to open them up and start dreaming again. Wish we lived on the same side of Lake Michigan, would love to see that layout, maybe set my Weaver 3678 on it just to see it.

Cool, I am hoping to finish the powered unit today and get the vid up tonight. It was quite an adventure as usual and it is much improved over my old upgrade effort.

@Norm Charbonneau posted:

Sorry to bring back an old thread but it seems I have managed to pick another one of these up along with the matching nonpowered unit at York this past October. With my fairly recent foray into 3D printing I thought I'd try a fresh approach to setting up proper fixed pilots. After looking at several photos and a drawing or two I figured out that the MTH swinging pilot is slightly stylized and quite a bit too narrow. I used my lowly Tinkercadding skills to build one up and printed it using my Creality FDM printer to test the fit-up and to see if I was onto something. The idea was to eventually resin print it so I can get more detailing 'molded' in. Here's a shot of the final FMD test print and the potential final resin one:

The general idea is to have it mounted to the sheet metal frame so that the shell can be removed without undoing the pilots. I also tried to fashion the pilots in the general spirit of the MTH model, using style and detail queues from the original part.

At some point I may 3D print replacement plugs for the dynamic brake assemblies.

@Norm Charbonneau would you consider selling any of these pilots to those who had previously bought these but aren’t running them due to the pilots?

I'd almost feel bad trying to get money for these experiments. The fit-up was a bit finnicky due to fitment differences between the two units I worked on. If you want the ones in the photo above, you're welcome to them. You'll have to add the grabs and cut levers. I did not print them because I thought it would be too fragile. The second and final resin print I did was a bit better but it still needs some refinement. I did a quick quote on xometry to have these printed in metal but it was like $155 for a pair.