MTH PRR Q2 Duplex Conversion: Lionel Legacy

Wow, a beautiful locomotive with a great whistle! But I can't help noticing the red classification lights, which aren't correct procedure.

Apologies for taking so dang long to get this viewed Sid, but yet another excellent upgrade. I don't have one of these very odd looking locomotives in my fleet yet, but it is one I will eventually get around to grabbing. I still have to contact you about a conversion, but it is a back burner for now and will have to wait a while. I'll get with you eventually.

What a handsome rascal!

Sid, has anyone ever considered using a miniature simple compressed air system of some type to give the whistle steam more 'oomph'?  As nice as this locomotive is, and like many others out there, the steam effect greatly lacks the 'pressure' that steam would produce as the whistle is sounded. So many have weak smoke that just 'wafts' out. After all, it is the force of the steam that creates the sound in the real locomotives!

Was thinking a small air tank might could be incorporated that somehow would release some pressure to drive the smoke instead of the fans now common in all of our models. The little tank could be any shape to fit the space and use an external hand pump to fill it through a small valve out of sight. Is this possible or feasible?

@B Smith posted:

Wow, a beautiful locomotive with a great whistle! But I can't help noticing the red classification lights, which aren't correct procedure.

Actually, those are not class lights, but marker lights on top of the smokebox.  The red color is correct, but they should be dark, except when running in reverse outside of yard limits, with or without a consist of cars coupled to the tender (i.e., the locomotive is at the rear of a train movement on the mainline and is showing the markers for the train).

By the way, the red markers on the rear of the tender should also be dark. 

@c.sam, the thing about smoking whistles is they're not all the same. I have been told that some really present a great puzzle to solve that could affect how it functions.

Sam, I think that the lighting in Sid's room also may make it look like it isn't doing much. I did notice the wide long shot was hard to see, but you can definitely see a noticeable way of smoke being pushed out. The close ups it is easier to see the smoke, but it looks as though it isn't much, hard to say. Either way, Sid definitely knows how to do all this crazy stuff I'd wind up burning my fingers before glueing then as well. If need be, maybe Sid could pop a second video of he has time highlighting the whistle steam.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

@c.sam, the thing about smoking whistles is they're not all the same. I have been told that some really present a great puzzle to solve that could affect how it functions.

Sam, I think that the lighting in Sid's room also may make it look like it isn't doing much. I did notice the wide long shot was hard to see, but you can definitely see a noticeable way of smoke being pushed out. The close ups it is easier to see the smoke, but it looks as though it isn't much, hard to say. Either way, Sid definitely knows how to do all this crazy stuff I'd wind up burning my fingers before glueing then as well. If need be, maybe Sid could pop a second video of he has time highlighting the whistle steam.

The whistle steam is definitely not just slowly coming out, but at the same time its not the strongest in the world. Locomotives with long boilers and long tubes needed result in slightly weaker smoke output flow. I still find it satisfactory and don't deem it worth of some kind of modified smoke system.

Here is an earlier test that shows the whistle steam a bit better. Not the strongest, but still a good flow that hits the whistle and looks good to me.

Yes, it does look good Sid, I didn't mean to infer otherwise! Posted my question on your thread as I would consider you someone who seems to be highly creative and imaginative. If my idea has any merit for our applications I was hoping you might catch it and give it some thought :-)

I am certainly no engineer and admire fellas like you, Bruk, and others !

@c.sam posted:

Yes, it does look good Sid, I didn't mean to infer otherwise! Posted my question on your thread as I would consider you someone who seems to be highly creative and imaginative. If my idea has any merit for our applications I was hoping you might catch it and give it some thought :-)

I am certainly no engineer and admire fellas like you!

Something that could be done is the use of a fan with a lower starting voltage. This would result in higher fan speeds. Or a circuit could be added to the fan circuit to increase voltage. Retaining the general design will result in the best performance for a dual unit. If a separate unit was fitted closer to the whistle that could also be an improvement. I personally prefer the dual smoke unit design.

@Sid's Trains posted:

The whistle steam is definitely not just slowly coming out, but at the same time its not the strongest in the world. Locomotives with long boilers and long tubes needed result in slightly weaker smoke output flow. I still find it satisfactory and don't deem it worth of some kind of modified smoke system.

I like it regardless. Excellent job Sid.

@Sid's Trains posted:

Here is an earlier test that shows the whistle steam a bit better. Not the strongest, but still a good flow that hits the whistle and looks good to me.

That is indeed a better video showing the whistle steam. Awesome Sid.

@Sid’s Trains : Amazing and creative surgery! Thanks so much for sharing. It’s great to know that your expertise exists and this example shows it!

Taking something good and making it great is a talent I respect greatly!

Thanks in advance for sharing your talents with us in the future!

Sid...Thanks for posting this conversion. Clever placing mini slide switches on the loco frame. On loco's with a open space there it's a neat way to add feature switches that can be changed without removing the cab. I am going to use that.

Richard

@Sid's Trains posted:

Here is my most recent project. This was an MTH PRR Q2 Duplex w/PS2. The later one with the drawbar tether. It's since been converted to Lionel Legacy w/whistle steam. It's got all the bells and whistles you would expect from a Legacy model. Uses custom 3D printed smoke unit parts from Bruk Bannister, classic RCMC/RS Lite Legacy electronics, and a fully custom wiring harness. Ended up using the original MTH 50mm speaker baffle and installed a Visaton 50mm 2w speaker. This thing is a beast!!! Got some photos and a video below.

great conversion, as some one who was in RR I just can’t stand the Lionel tower chatter. That said one **** of an engine.

Craig

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