PS2 upgrade to a 3rdrail Hudson

The PS/2 kit contains most everything you need.  All you need for a smoke unit is the bare resistor and a direct connection to the fan motor.  When you upgrade PS/1 locomotives, you actually cut away all the logic on the smoke unit to just use the resistor and fan.

If you have LED markers already installed, you can graft those into the wiring harness or use the ones that come with the PS/2 kit.

You might want to check the location and size of the existing tether to see if you'll be able to easily fit the PS/2 tether in that place.  The locomotive connector is a bit large with the PCB with the diodes.  On one conversion, I had to remove the diodes and relocate them in the wiring harness because they wouldn't fit at the rear of the locomotive.

If you plan on doing more than one of these, get a basic membership to the MTH RR Club for $25, because you get a $30 price break on the kits.  I've bought three of them this year, so my $25 saved my $90.

Good advise John,

The engine comes with a 8 pin tether already, I know the kit is a 10 pin.  I checked and the slot can be enlarged.   I have several engines worth converting but I'll wait and see how this one goes.

A save the old tether sets, they're handy for TMCC conversions that don't need 10 wires.

Not a Third Rail but a Weaver Brass Pocono.  I would definitely change the smoke unit too  Nothing like an MTH smoker

I have a Williams brass K-4 Pacific that I'm going to convert, the old smoke unit most certainly has to go!  The MTH PS/1 smoke unit slides right in, so I think that's a good choice.

Let me know if you want to sell the old EOB boards and encoder.

Sorry John,

I'm keeping those for repairs of my other engines or fixing friends engines.  What's a good source for MTH smoke units?

No problem, just figured I'd get a bid in.  

I watch the forum and grab any fan driven smoke units that I see for sale.  They seem to evaporate from my parts box in short order.

Gary;

All good advice here.

One other thing you will need is a 10K pot for the volume control.

It does not come in the kit.

About a year ago I upgraded a k-line scale Hudson to PS-2, including an MTH smoke unit.

It is one of my favorite running locs.

Another thing you will likely have to do is make a custom tach tape if you want the chuff sound sequenced properly, and the scale speed correct.

Cheers,

Rod

You hit the nail on the head Rod.  How does one do that?  Didn't someone have a program to figure all that out and spit the tape out on a printer?

Gary;

Here is a small outline for making tach strips that I made up from information on the forum;

I have used this with good success.

"PS-2 Custom Tach Tapes

After conversion place the engine on the track using the standard 48 stripe tach tape, along with a PS-2 engine that is known to have accurate scale speed.

Set the reference engine at a steady manageable speed; say about 20 SMPH. Run the converted engine nose to tail with the reference engine and adjust it’s speed to match as closely as possible. Note the indicated DCS speed on the handheld.

Now the new tach tape is found:

          Ref Loc speed MPH/Test Loc Ind. Speed MPH X 48 = no. of stripes needed

          Round to the nearest EVEN no of stripes; ie 40, 42, 44 etc

Flywheel circumference = diameter X 3.14152 (pi).  This gives the length of tach tape needed.

Now from the various stripe size options, select a strip that provides the required no of stripes in the length needed.

Affix the new tach tape around the flywheel either with rubber cement or clear tape.

Note that the corrected speed may not exactly match that of an MTH engine, but should be close; within 1 SMPH either way.

Note that the tach reader may not be able to read stripes narrower than 0.050”

Note also that in some steamer cases it may not be possible to get the chuff rate to match the steam chest rod action, AND the scale speed to register accurately; depending on the sound set installed, the drive gear ratio, etc. This is because each MTH sound set is specced for a given engine specifics, and these may not match the conversion engine specs.

In this case you will have to decide which is more important, and make the tach tape to suit.

Some experimentation may be needed with different tach tapes in order to get the chuff rate to match the side rod action. This is simple to do with the boiler off."

Dave Hikel provided several files a few months back that gave stripe thicknesses from .050" all the way up. I have them downloaded, but maybe someone else can provide us with the link.

I have converted several K-Line scale steam, and so far I have gotten lucky with making a tape that matches scale speed and chuff rate to rod action.

Let us know how it goes!

Cheers,

Rod

Gary; did we lose you?

Rod

John:  I'm planning to buy a cheap engine to do a PS2 diesel upgrade on and found a Williams U33 for a good price.  Have you started your K4 upgrade and if so, have you found anything worth passing along that could help out?

Thanks,

Bob

I got sidetracked from the K-4, as I picked up a Legacy model.  It's still sitting in the closet, and I'll eventually get to it.  PS/2 upgrades to diesels are usually pretty easy, I didn't run into any issues doing those.  The steamers are a bit more complicated, primarily dealing with mounting the tether for non-MTH locomotives, as they don't have a compatible mounting already available.  With a diesel, everything is in one shell, so the wiring is just point to point.  Hardest part is dressing the wiring to make it neat.

I have not purchased the PS2 kit yet.  More than likely it won't happen until next winter season.  I got side track with layout detailing.  I do have your input saved and will put it to good use when I do the conversion.

Gary;

I think you will love the conversion once you do it.

It might be wise to consider getting a used PS-1 smoke unit, or a new PS-2 smoke unit. It will likely fit the shell and of course smoke like crazy.

The K-Line engines I have done I found the MTH smoke units will fit into the shell with no problem, and mate up to the smoke flange in the boiler casting just fine.

Rod

I would just call and ask for the generic smoke unit, like the ones they sell at York.  Do they still have their parts area at York, haven't been in ten years?

Gary,

Any MTH smoke unit can be fitted.  PS-1 or PS-2.  Steam or diesel does not matter as the puffing is controlled by the PS-2 board and the sound file you put in it.  The MTH smoke unit is the best with two heating elements.  Your engine will be a  good engine to work with.  You should luck out with tach tape that comes with the kit.

You can get a volume pot as Rod stated if you want.  I find that most people who do run command do not care about the pot and connect the first two wires on the 12 pin connector for full volume.  If you want the pot, do not buy one as I will be happy to donate one.  I know your engine and you will have some great sound files to choose from.

Most all the parts in the past few years have been for tinplate. Very little for Premiere of Railking.

Pete

AA-0000011 is a generic PS-1 version that can be powered by the track.  Cutoff the board if you want to use it in PS-2.

AA-0000029 I s a good generic PS-2 model.  Depending on application you may need to use a brass tube to adapt the brass cup (smoke outlet).  There also are short and long leg smoke housing.  The 11 has adapters, the 29 is short.   G

If flywheel is less than 27mm diameter, sensor can't read the stripes if you have the regular number of stripes.

Good information here

Thanks

Clem K

You can use the wider stripes, the only downside is that the scale MPH will be off.  If you use the 27mm diameter tape and the flywheel was 26mm, it would be about 4% fast.

Yes.  I upgraded a Weaver 0-8-0, which has a 22 mm flywheel, and the speed differential is so great that I could not run it in a lash-up even if I wanted to.  But, I do have the local under digital control, which makes operating fun.

Well, from 27 to 22 would be a large jump, no doubt that would greatly affect the speed calibration!

I'm curious, what happens if you fudge the strip width, clearly it would only be a problem at high speed it would seem.

Gunner, the logo ran very rough, lurching and uncontrollable.  I spoke to MTH and they advised me that the sensor could not read stripes now are then those on the 27 mm tape.  Therefore, I just took a 27 mm tape and cut off the excess length when I wrapped it around the flywheel.

I'm going to have to give this a try next time I have one apart.  I was thinking of printing some strips and doing some experiments...

If the engine will handle it change the flywheel to a 27mm.  G