Rugged Rails doner to a Railking Imperial 12/22/14 Update

I wouldn't be surprised if you could drop the shell of the dummy onto the frame of the RR F3.  I doubt they made them different sizes.

Wouldn't that just be nirvana.  The Rugged Rails looks a little shorter... but that could just be the picture.  Either way the PS3 stuff will still be less expensive that an upgrade kit.  So if it does not work for this effort, I could always save it for another project.

Thanks!

Ron

You can't swap shells with the Rugged Rails F3 and the Railking Scale F3...RR version is shorter.

Bummer, I thought that would work.  I haven't seen them, and I'm surprised they didn't make them the same size, it would have been cheaper for MTH.

If it's a really good deal, I'd pick it up and then figure out what you're going to do with them.

The poster didn't ask about swapping shells, but placing the motors in the trucks. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it would work, unless the Railking trucks don't have the gears in them. In that case I would remove the Railking trucks and put the Rugged Rails motors and trucks onto the Railking frame. 

There are 3 different F-3 made under the MTH label.......if they were the same wheel base maybe work....but swap between the different models...no.

Just to muddy the waters....the very small 'Rugged Rails' F-3 were at one time just Rail King F-3's....then they moved......I have a set of the D&RGW Rail King small F-3's that are fantastic looking.....so small I can't use them with my current stuff. May give them to Grandkids! 

The original poster may not have but John, the second poster DID suggest the possibility of swapping the shells. THAT is who I was replying to. 

To answer your question yes.  The MTH the powered truck assembly's are interchangeable. In this case you will move all the components ( The trucks, motors, PS3 components and the lights)to the dummy unit. RK scale F3 trucks are the same as the RR and normal RK f3. in fact the RR and the standard RK F3 are the same engine. different 30#. The RK scale which is bigger still uses the same truck assembly. I have done same thing only with an SD45 using all the components from an SD9 Donor. This was an easy question.

John I am surprised you did not know this.

I'm not surprised I didn't know it, I think I've only seen one or two Rugged Rails engines, they don't come my way very often.  It's hard to have a handle on every piece of knowledge about a product line, that's why the forum is so valuable, others that have encountered the situation will fill in the blanks.

Thanks for all the feedback gents.  I think I'm going to give it a go after Christmas.  I will document the process... maybe it will be helpful to someone.

Ron

We look forward to the results Ron.   I'm curious how much difference there is in the two engines.

Well... Step 1 complete.

Won my bid on an MTH RR F3 with PS3 supposedly brand new for $105.50.  That is significantly cheaper than just buying a PS2 upgrade kit.  Plus I get the motors and the lights.

I will post pics on the differences of the engines when they arrive.

Ron

Excellent, looking forward to the experience.

John. We have been exchanging emails I cc you in the last one.

Doug

Ron this was my MTH ATSF SD45 Dummy to power conversion with fixed pilot and has gone through another upgrade from PS2 to PS3. All the original running gear transferred into my CB&Q SD9 that was PS1. The Weaver C628 in the Picture is also an upgrade from conventional to PS3 using a RK Imperial NS SD70 as a donor. Motors, Boards, speakers and lights.  All donor engines were sold as non powered units.

Original donor for the SD45 ($45.00)was MTH PS2 Chessie SD9($130.00). Powered truck assembly ( same part number), Motors, Boards, Lights, and couplers).  The second Donor PS2 to PS3 came from MTH PS3 RK scale SD45(This was a shell and pilot swap) and the PS2 components, Motors couplers and lights transferred to the MTH CB&Q  SD9 which I had purchased at the same time as the SD45 Donor. Cost wise I still came out ahead. Total cost for me after all the conversions was just above $200.00 still was worth it. Yep I am an Army Dad.

Doug

Not sure why I do these things.  I've done a couple in the past and swear I'll never attempt such actions again.  I'm going to do this in two posts to shorten it up.

This one is to view the differences in the Rugged Rails and Rail King F3's.

Swapping shells was absolutely out of the question as someone previously posted.  However a 100% transfer of the RR F3 "stuff" to the RK F3 Frame Looks easy and feasible.

Well I carefully removed all of the items from the RK Dummy F3 and placed them aside.

Then I stared disassembly of the RR F3.  For a brief moment I thought I could get away with using the existing RK trucks, but noticed not all of the gears are present. 

I did everything screw by screw, and taped and labeled screws as needed to avoid confusion.  I was able to remove 100% of the items from the RR F3 and keep everything in tact.

Then I noticed the problem... Big problem.  The trucks are different.  At first blush they look identical, but if you look carefully they are backwards.

Then I noticed the cut outs in the frames are backwards too.  This makes putting the RR trucks on the RK frame just about impossible.

It's late and I'm tired so I've stopped for the night.  I'm really not sure what to do next.  I thought maybe there is a way to take the gears out of the RR trucks and install them on the RK trucks? 

I'll have to check that out tomorrow.  If I go back down stairs now I won't resurface until 1am.

Some pics...

Ron

Well, I learned something today, there is a huge difference in the RR stuff and the RK stuff!

I think at this point you may be looking for an old RK donor for trucks, I think trying to move the gears will be a mess!