Seems my original thread got deleted by the moderators.
I am not sure if PRRMP54 got to see my tutorial on the "EMU/Trolley" he saw in one of my photos on that thread. Just in case, here is the story again.
I always wanted to make one of these powered passenger carriages (we call them a "Railmotor" here in Australia) that were used in the 50's and 60's on weekends when suburban passenger numbers were low.
Here it is in front of "some" of my Buco locomotive collection....there are a lot more loco's in boxes under the layout!!!!
Anyway, the "Railmotor" started out as a 4 axle Buco passenger carriage that, in some instances, came with an internal lighting kit. See photo below of the carriage, and of the Buco catalogue (1952) showing the four different styles of 4 axle carriages they made.
I had a pair of MTH motorized trucks with side frames and pick-ups sitting in my spare parts bin, so I got the idea from my good friend and Buco mechanic in Switzerland (Swiss John aka Hans Schweizer) to swap out the original axles, and bogie frames, and add the MTH motorized trucks to the Buco passenger car chassis.
While I was at it, I installed an MTH/QSI "DAP PCC Car" circuit board to control the forward-neutral-reverse sequence for the motors, and provide sound as well. A speaker was added to the undercarriage, and a small plastic box was built to hide it from view.
I needed to remove the original ends of the passenger carriage, and add the front sections of the Buco 301 locomotive (see photo below), to give it that specific double-ended loco look. This was a fairly easy task, as Buco is all high quality tinplate, and goes together in lithographed sectional panels with "tabs" and "slots".
Above is a spare Buco 301 loco front I have (in a rare brown color), complete with handrails and headlights. You can see the two "tabs" at the bottom that secure it into the same "slots" in the chassis where the original carriage ends were fitted. "Tabs on each side of the loco end panel fit into the same "slots" of the passenger carriage body...it was that easy!!
Just had to add a couple of original Buco fixed pantographs to the carriage roof, install some LED's for the directional headlights, and reshape the roof over the loco front to match the curved passenger car roof profile, and it was done!!!
Getting the circuit board (and all the wiring as well) and the BCR inside the shell, and free of the motors turning, however, was a challenge, but it works extremely well. The "Railmotor" responds when you press and hold the bell button to activate the station announcements, stops when you hit the direction button at the station, goes through the different platform announcements, and then leaves the station at the same speed when you hit the direction button, after the last announcement. Works just like a bought one!!!
My Swiss friend says it looks to "muscular" with the MTH trucks and side frames, but in the words of one Forest Gump...."I don't know about that!!!"
PRRMP54....hope you enjoyed my tutorial on how to build an EMU/Trolley (Railmotor) using all original Buco body parts, and MTH running gear controlled by MTH/QSI circuitry.
Peter.....Buco Australia.
