Remotoring the Flying Yankee

Helpful bunch, huh?

I've seen them re-motored with Marx motors and Lionel 2034 motors.

There is a Flying Yankee Motor on ebay right now. Your other option is to contact Lionel's Service Dept as they re-issued the Flying Yankee a few years ago, if you do not mind a Modern Repro Motor made like the original. Take Care.

While Jim and Keith make valid points, patience is rewarded here.... good original motors can be had off the bay (as keith mentions) for $50-$90.

I appreciate everyones thoughts.  If I had a really nice original Flying Yankee and all it needed was a motor then spending $75 to $100 for a motor would be painful but maybe practical.  So many of these sets are rusty basket cases and putting that kind of money into a motor for a set that will need paint to cover the rusty chrome for the grandkids to run does not make sense to me. I have settled on a K Line Alco motor truck for my current restoration.  I cut the sheet metal frame in half from an older K Line Wabash Alco which has two power trucks.  Chicago Hobby blew these out several years ago for less than $35 and they are still cheap on Ebay.  The wheels are exactly the same size as the original wheels and I extended the frame sides with wooden strips.  The headlight is already mounted on the frame.   The BIG plus is the motor also has its own pickup under it.  I could use the original electronic reverse but I'm electing to just use a bridge rectifier from Radio Shack and run it forward only which should lessen the problem of only one short pickup.  Who needs to back up a Flying Yankee anyway?  I considered using a Lionel early Alco motor and frame but it has no pickup.  The Yankee power car has no other truck so getting power to the motor was a problem.  I looked at several vertical can motored trucks but there is not enough clearance.  The only drawback is that there will be two small screwheads that show from each side of the power car.  I am painting the set orange with a silver top.  I'm staying with just three cars so the motor won't have to work so hard.  I am about half way through the project.  When finished I will give it to my Grandson for Christmas who will run the heck out of it.  Just like the old days!

Would it be possible to remove the armature from your old motor mechanism and stick in a new can motor? I've done that with a lot of Marx mechanisms and it works great. You can't do it on a steamer, though, because the can motor has a different aspect ration than the original armature.

Does your Yankee have a motor? If you have a motor, it seems like you're going through a whole lot of unnecessary work, compared to a rebuild. The motors are just about bullet proof and simple to fix. Generally around $10 will fix one up to great running condition, and anyone can do it with a little thought. If you're converting something to fit a Yankee body, then I would assume that you could easily do a motor rebuild.

I'm sure that if you are patient, a motor will come up for around $50 or less, and it will drop right in. Considering the effort you are putting into the set by cleaning and repainting it, the addition of an original motor would seem warranted to me, and also, it will be a lot less time consuming in the long run.