So...I did a thing...

Beautiful!

Dan Weinhold

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Outstanding.

@NSPirate posted:

DCC could be a hobby of its own; this was my first go with it, I love it, far exceeds DCS/Legacy in my opinion.

When it was all put together is runs and sounds awesome.  I can't say enough about the ESU Loksound L; why we have to deal with Legacy and DCS I don't know.  The slow speed performance is also better than anything I've ever seen.

I agree.

Very nice.

Very nice!       cTr...( Choose the Right )

Nicely done !!!

Excellent work!  When you get established in your new home and settled, would love to see a parts list and your custom tools you did to convert this.

That looks great- definitely want to complete the look with the extended handrails for sure- nice job!

@NSPirate posted:

I can't say enough about the ESU Loksound L; why we have to deal with Legacy and DCS I don't know.

Care to share more about the Loksound with a 3-railer? I assume it's a sound system. I thought Legacy Railsounds were the best in O gauge, if not model railroading in general, is this not true? I am a sucker for good, quality sounds on my engines, if there is something better than Legacy Railsounds I would love to know!

Wow! You really did a superb job on that conversion. She looks great! I would love to see a video on it someday when you have time.

Wow!  Agreed...very nice.

@0-Gauge CJ posted:

Care to share more about the Loksound with a 3-railer? I assume it's a sound system. I thought Legacy Railsounds were the best in O gauge, if not model railroading in general, is this not true? I am a sucker for good, quality sounds on my engines, if there is something better than Legacy Railsounds I would love to know!

LokSound decoders offer the most authentic sounds and features in model railroading. That's why they are so popular in HO & N scales. Plus, it's easy to change sounds like horns, bells/whistles, etc with the LokProgrammer. You can't do that with Legacy Railsounds - You're stuck with what Lionel gives you.

Very inspirational--thanks, @NSPirate !

Very, very nice! Would love to see and hear a video of that beauty running!

Jim K

Opening this back up, I found this video (sorry for the horrible quality, it was taken using a movers phone (he wanted to see it run) when I was in process of moving 3 years ago).  I was also still in process of getting it programmed and the speed steps dialed it; but it shows it does work!  Loco is still in its box from the move; I hope to get it out and finally finish it this year.

@NSPirate posted:

O Scale Lionel ES44AC in 2-Rail.

This is only a sneak peak of the final result, this has been about 6 months or so in the making.  I'm near being finished as I still have final wiring to clean up, handrails to extend, smoke unit to wire, etc.  I'm having to press pause on this until Mid-October, currently packing up to move into a new house.

Here's some quick answers to questions you may have; once completed I'll post a video of it running and an answer more questions at that time.

Note, this was a very pricy project, right at $1000 by the time its all said and done, maybe a little more.  I wanted to do it though; not sure I'd do it again due to cost.  It took 2 Lionel ES44 Units, one powered one non-powered.  The Powered Unit was dropped by a friends child and was unrepairable.  I bought that unit and gutted parts I needed; Legacy Electronics were not reused.  I bought the CSX Non-Powered Unit and transferred what I needed.  The rest needed to name a few are:

-Wheels and Axles:  NWSL 42", Electronics:  ESU Loksound L Decoder, Lighting: various size LEDs from Tony's Trains (the Lionel LEDs were not prototypical colored at all), plus lots of others: wiring, speakers (Tang Band T1-1931S x 2), resistors, specialized tools, etc. etc., lots of trial and error.  DCC could be a hobby of its own; this was my first go with it, I love it, far exceeds DCS/Legacy in my opinion.

When it was all put together is runs and sounds awesome.  I can't say enough about the ESU Loksound L; why we have to deal with Legacy and DCS I don't know.  The slow speed performance is also better than anything I've ever seen.

WOW!  Super nice work!

Most interested in your actual conversion to 2R using the NWSL wheels.  Do you have any along the way photos or could describe that process further?  Did you pull the 3R wheels and use the NWSL wheels?  Did you make your own axles and gearing? How about electrical pickup? 

@Mike DeBerg posted:

WOW!  Super nice work!

Most interested in your actual conversion to 2R using the NWSL wheels.  Do you have any along the way photos or could describe that process further?  Did you pull the 3R wheels and use the NWSL wheels?  Did you make your own axles and gearing? How about electrical pickup?

Mike...I took a few, I had to dig them off my old phone last night, this is all I have.  Lots of trial and error and trips to the hardware store for washers, screws, etc.  Puller, press, and calipers are a must.

Stock Lionel Geared Wheel, I reused only the gears and washers (both brass and plastic):

NWSL Assembled wheels and axle w/ hardware from above plus additional plastic washers:

Test fitting in the trucks ,note added bushings I made out of nylon tubing to get the spacing correct, I still had to leave a small amount of play, otherwise binding would occur in the gears:

On track:

Non-powered chassis with one of the broken powered units motors (lots of parts had to be transferred from the broken powered unit to put all of this together):

Wiring the truck (I used redundancy on the pickups to eliminate issues, also used a large capacitor wired to the Loksound board):

I do not have any pics of the under shell work, its just typical DCC stuff using the correct wiring for the LEDs, motors, speakers, etc.  I was able to squeeze two Tang Band T1-1931S speakers in it (one in the fuel tank (I milled the tank out a bit to make it fit and enclosed it) and one under the radiator), making this unit able to have better sounds than a stock lionel or MTH locomotive (its LOUD).   I did have a custom 3d printed holder made for the LSL boards to snap into and unplug from the body should it need to be replaced with something else without having the pull or un-solder the wiring.

I will try to finish it this year and post some more pics/video, I still have some external details to finish up and to get the programming dialed in.  This was a fun project, but I don't think I would do it again due to the cost.  It was over $1k 3 years ago, without the tools you need for the wheel/truck work.

nice work

I have a Lionel diesel that someone converted to 2 rail. The trucks seem to pop a wheelie and derail on curves. I've seen mods that have a stiff (spring) piece of metal or a screw that tries to prevent this from happening.

Does this happen to these?

" why we have to deal with Legacy and DCS I don't know.  "

For those who weren't around 25-30 years ago, DCC was not available for higher amp locos back then, was much more expensive,  and higher quality sound was non-existent in ready to run three rail O gauge. That's why Lionel invented TMCC (Legacy's precursor) in the mid-1990s and MTH followed with DCS 5-7 years later.  Sounds in locos were rarely available ready to run in all other gauges, with the exception of specialty manufacturers like Marklin and LGB.

Frankly, neither manufacturer was particularly concerned with the very small two rail O gauge market, and their stuff was far superior in terms of sound to what was available in HO, N and O two rail.  Most three railers do not appear to be interested in the sort of labor and knowledge intensive projects so well described here. It's all about trains as toys for most three railers, and ready to run is more important than prototypical issues and choice of sounds.  These are marginal to irrelevant concerns for most three railers.

@Engineer-Joe posted:

nice work

I have a Lionel diesel that someone converted to 2 rail. The trucks seem to pop a wheelie and derail on curves. I've seen mods that have a stiff (spring) piece of metal or a screw that tries to prevent this from happening.

Does this happen to these?

Joe, I could see how that could happen.  I had to leave some "slack" or small amount of side-to-side play to allow the axles to float side-to-side some without coming off the gears; otherwise they would bind up.  The smallest curve I tested it on was 72" radius before I boxed it up; not sure how it would do on anything tighter than that as I haven't tested it.  You could theoretically pull the gear off the axle closest the fuel tank on each truck to create a shorter acting wheelbase, similar to the blind wheel like the 3-rail versions do.

Outstanding NS, it looks great! I’ve been wanting to take a crack at converting one in BNSF and seeing this has motivated me.☺️

It's too bad that Lionel doesn't offer 2 rail like MTH did.

Impressive. What a great salvage!

@NSPirate posted:

Mike...I took a few, I had to dig them off my old phone last night, this is all I have.  Lots of trial and error and trips to the hardware store for washers, screws, etc.  Puller, press, and calipers are a must.

Stock Lionel Geared Wheel, I reused only the gears and washers (both bras

I do not have any pics of the under shell work, its just typical DCC stuff using the correct wiring for the LEDs, motors, speakers, etc.  I was able to squeeze two Tang Band T1-1931S speakers in it (one in the fuel tank (I milled the tank out a bit to make it fit and enclosed it) and one under the radiator), making this unit able to have better sounds than a stock lionel or MTH locomotive (its LOUD).   I did have a custom 3d printed holder made for the LSL boards to snap into and unplug from the body should it need to be replaced with something else without having the pull or un-solder the wiring.

I will try to finish it this year and post some more pics/video, I still have some external details to finish up and to get the programming dialed in.  This was a fun project, but I don't think I would do it again due to the cost.  It was over $1k 3 years ago, without the tools you need for the wheel/truck work.

Just WOW!  This is amazing work!  I think many of us have similar locomotives and want to do the same thing... I am shocked that Lionel doesn't take one of their newly tooled locomotives, let's say the ET44AC would have been a great one to do this with, make it easy to convert to 2R and test the waters.  I believe even their latest electronics support DCC? Such what they produce in S scale?  Not certain on that part, BUT the wheel and pickup conversion is the hard part, the electronics are easier, IMO.

Do the pilots on Lionel’s ES44AC and ET44AC have a factory option to mount them to the body?

@Mike DeBerg I am absolutely of the same mindset. I am considering picking up some of the Lionel ET44AC's once released and doing a similar conversion as that is a prototype necessary for a modern model rr.

@jgtrh62 posted:

Do the pilots on Lionel’s ES44AC and ET44AC have a factory option to mount them to the body?

Same kinematic pilots on both of those models, so they have decent kadee mounts and plows with smaller pilot openings.  With a little work yes you can mount the pilots to the rest of the chassis or body.  I'm still thinking a narrow shim is needed between the bottom of the walkway and the top of the pilot based on what I remember to get proper spacing and filling in the narrow gap, but others who have done it recently can jump in.

@bigboy25 posted:

@Mike DeBerg I am absolutely of the same mindset. I am considering picking up some of the Lionel ET44AC's once released and doing a similar conversion as that is a prototype necessary for a modern model rr.

Couldn't agree more if you model Class I railroading in the present day!

@Mike DeBerg posted:

Same kinematic pilots on both of those models, so they have decent kadee mounts and plows with smaller pilot openings.  With a little work yes you can mount the pilots to the rest of the chassis or body.  I'm still thinking a narrow shim is needed between the bottom of the walkway and the top of the pilot based on what I remember to get proper spacing and filling in the narrow gap, but others who have done it recently can jump in.

The pics in my original post will show where the pilot lands when its fixed.  No shim or spacer is needed between the body and pilot, you have to put a thin plastic washer between the arm that hold the pilot to the chassis and the chassis itself before you tighten the screw down to keep it from sucking the pilot up to tight under the anti-climber (pilot wants to see-saw up when the screw is tightened).  I removed the spring assemblies as well that keep the kinematic pilots centered since they are no longer needed.

This is really impressive   I would love to get into this sort of work once my layout is actually up and running.

@NSPirate posted:

The pics in my original post will show where the pilot lands when its fixed.  No shim or spacer is needed between the body and pilot, you have to put a thin plastic washer between the arm that hold the pilot to the chassis and the chassis itself before you tighten the screw down to keep it from sucking the pilot up to tight under the anti-climber (pilot wants to see-saw up when the screw is tightened).  I removed the spring assemblies as well that keep the kinematic pilots centered since they are no longer needed.

That's awesome, I know the Lionel Legacy SD38's with the kinematic pilots  I did several years ago, really benefited from a narrow shim to help close the gap.  I attached the pilots to the bottom of the chassis vs the body shell which might also explain some of that need.

So awesome to hear these modern GE's don't need that!

It's nice to see how the trucks come apart, too bad 2 rail wheels are not offerd.