Trackmobile

They only come in 3 rail from Lionel. I would suggest emailing RRJJF ( Joe F at Baldwin Forge and machine) as he did one I believe?

here's a quote from a post of his back in 2013:

"As far as conversions go, I have converted most everything from a Lionel Trackmobile to an MTH Triplex.  Some are more difficult to convert  than others but all can be converted."

and be careful not to over power the engine! I had mine burn out from too much power on the rails I believe. The board failed without warning. It was only ran about twice before that. Make sure to keep the track power under 18 volts!

 I wish Lionel would add some protection in the circuit. I realize how tight this particular engine is for space.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the information.  I'm still new in the 2-rail area and just learning as I go.

Thanks again!

Dear SNOWMANW900,

Please note attached photos of the Lionel Trackmobile 2 railed for me by Joe F. of Baldwin Forge.

Unfortunately at this time Joe is not accepting any further commissions to do that type of work.

Welcome to O Scale and hopefully meet you at our Strasburg shows since you live in Ohio.

John P.Dunn Sr. Scale2Rail Promotions

I'll bet working on that little bugger to do that was a giant PITA!  I took mine apart to fix the windows that fell in, that was a PITA!

jdunn posted:

Dear SNOWMANW900,

Please note attached photos of the Lionel Trackmobile 2 railed for me by Joe F. of Baldwin Forge.

Unfortunately at this time Joe is not accepting any further commissions to do that type of work.

Welcome to O Scale and hopefully meet you at our Strasburg shows since you live in Ohio.

John P.Dunn Sr. Scale2Rail Promotions

 

Hello John.  Thanks for the invite to the Strasburg show.

Can you give me the dates and info on that show. I'd love to check it out!

Thanks.

jdunn posted:

Dear SNOWMANW900,

Please note attached photos of the Lionel Trackmobile 2 railed for me by Joe F. of Baldwin Forge.

Unfortunately at this time Joe is not accepting any further commissions to do that type of work.

Welcome to O Scale and hopefully meet you at our Strasburg shows since you live in Ohio.

John P.Dunn Sr. Scale2Rail Promotions

 

It was you! I'm jealous. 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'll bet working on that little bugger to do that was a giant PITA!  I took mine apart to fix the windows that fell in, that was a PITA!

Mine blew the board inside and I replaced it. I want to add sound and it's so tight, my hands can't even fit well. I doubt I'll ever do it.

I'd rather have this engine than the 44 ton. I guess it comes down to what you've seen or been around. I thought it was a cool little bugger in the way it works in real life. It lifts the car to get traction.

jdunn posted:

Dear SNOWMANW900,

Please note attached photos of the Lionel Trackmobile 2 railed for me by Joe F. of Baldwin Forge.

Unfortunately at this time Joe is not accepting any further commissions to do that type of work.

Welcome to O Scale and hopefully meet you at our Strasburg shows since you live in Ohio.

John P.Dunn Sr. Scale2Rail Promotions

 

If Joe isn’t doing conversions anymore, is there anyone else who converts 3-rail diesel locomotives to 2-rail?

I am specifically looking for someone who is experienced in converting diesel locomotives like this trackmobile or the GP-35s from the new Lionel catalog. Perhaps starting with a powered or unpowered 3-rail locomotive & then converting it to a powered 2-rail locomotive, with DCC & sound.

I had to ask because there are so many choices for 3-rail locomotives, at great prices on the “For Sale” forum & on E-Bay that I am interested in, if only there was a way to convert them to 2-rail.

Thanks,

Naveen

naveenrajan posted

 

I am specifically looking for someone who is experienced in converting diesel locomotives like this trackmobile or the GP-35s from the new Lionel catalog. Perhaps starting with a powered or unpowered 3-rail locomotive & then converting it to a powered 2-rail locomotive, with DCC & sound.

I had to ask because there are so many choices for 3-rail locomotives, at great prices on the “For Sale” forum & on E-Bay that I am interested in, if only there was a way to convert them to 2-rail.

Thanks,

Naveen

If you want to go 2 rail, my suggestion would be to GO 2 rail. There are plenty of secondary market (used) models out there that don't need converting. Overland or OMI (now out of business) made your track mobile in 2 rail.  If you look long and hard enough, there is very little 2 rail equipment that you won't be able to find. Add to that the accuracy of most 2 rail equipment is much better.

I would recommend going to some exclusively 2 rail shows and talking to the people there. Go to the Chicago March Meet and there will be all kind of brass, and people you can talk to. Watch the auctions. Stuff is continually being recycled.

You are trying to turn toys into models, and it doesn't work so well. If you are going to do a lot of it, you might think of taking some machine shop courses, but the easiest route is to buy 2 rail euipment.

Going about it the way you want to go, you are swimming against the current.

Good Luck, Simon

The big problem is insulating the wheels..

I have been pondering that for 2 rail STD ga.

Simon Winter posted:

naveenrajan posted

 

I am specifically looking for someone who is experienced in converting diesel locomotives like this trackmobile or the GP-35s from the new Lionel catalog. Perhaps starting with a powered or unpowered 3-rail locomotive & then converting it to a powered 2-rail locomotive, with DCC & sound.

I had to ask because there are so many choices for 3-rail locomotives, at great prices on the “For Sale” forum & on E-Bay that I am interested in, if only there was a way to convert them to 2-rail.

Thanks,

Naveen

If you want to go 2 rail, my suggestion would be to GO 2 rail. There are plenty of secondary market (used) models out there that don't need converting. Overland or OMI (now out of business) made your track mobile in 2 rail.  If you look long and hard enough, there is very little 2 rail equipment that you won't be able to find. Add to that the accuracy of most 2 rail equipment is much better.

….

Good Luck, Simon

I didn't think the OMI O scale track mobile ever actually got built or released?

BTW, he has other OMI engines already.

Simon Winter posted:

naveenrajan posted

 

I am specifically looking for someone who is experienced in converting diesel locomotives like this trackmobile or the GP-35s from the new Lionel catalog. Perhaps starting with a powered or unpowered 3-rail locomotive & then converting it to a powered 2-rail locomotive, with DCC & sound.

I had to ask because there are so many choices for 3-rail locomotives, at great prices on the “For Sale” forum & on E-Bay that I am interested in, if only there was a way to convert them to 2-rail.

Thanks,

Naveen

If you want to go 2 rail, my suggestion would be to GO 2 rail. There are plenty of secondary market (used) models out there that don't need converting. Overland or OMI (now out of business) made your track mobile in 2 rail.  If you look long and hard enough, there is very little 2 rail equipment that you won't be able to find. Add to that the accuracy of most 2 rail equipment is much better.

I would recommend going to some exclusively 2 rail shows and talking to the people there. Go to the Chicago March Meet and there will be all kind of brass, and people you can talk to. Watch the auctions. Stuff is continually being recycled.

You are trying to turn toys into models, and it doesn't work so well. If you are going to do a lot of it, you might think of taking some machine shop courses, but the easiest route is to buy 2 rail euipment.

Going about it the way you want to go, you are swimming against the current.

Good Luck, Simon

I have been in 2-rail for the last 13 years. I have bought Overland O-Scale models, both new & as used. I have been to Chicago March meet.

I have converted 3-rail freight cars to 2-rail & I have posted photos of such conversions on this forum over the years but I would prefer someone to professionally covert diesel locomotives, as I don’t have access to the machine tools to do such conversions nor do I have the space to install tools that I won’t fully utilize.

I have formal education / experience in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, CAD, CNC. I understand that Lionel models might not be accurate as a brass model but at least they are available easily or available for reserving, unlike scavenging for brass models on the secondary market.

Also, I mostly favor scale models of contemporary locomotives, not models of steam or transition era locomotives & with OMI, no longer importing, I would be willing to accept a lesser-detailed Lionel locomotive, if I could find someone to professionally convert these to 2-rail.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen

Here's a look at the bottom of the Lionel trackmobile.

I believe that new wheels would be needed that don't short the axle together along with smaller wheel rim profiles, wipers on at least one insulated side of those, and finally swap out the couplers.

Some Lionel boards don't like straight DC (I've heard) so I'm not sure if that's something else that needs to be converted?

Does yours still have the TMCC electronics inside JDunn?

Believe it or not I want to convert mine to 2 rail and use the MTH HO PS3 board set to do it. Where will the speaker even go? Yuck.

Good news is that Lionel must be seeing a wider fan base so that they made many new cars come "easily convertible to KD couplers".

TMCC would CERTAINLY not like DC.

I have read recent posts here that say certain Lionel boards will run on DC. I can only guess then, that it's certain Legacy versions John?

I don't believe any Legacy stuff runs on DC.  Every TMCC and Legacy manual I checked says AC only.  Also, for the TMCC stuff, the triacs all depend on AC, so there's no way they will tolerate DC well.  Although it would seem possible to run Legacy on DC, they all specify AC as well.

I find it interesting to read that the American Flyer with Legacy does run on DC though.

"Your Locomotive is equipped with the latest generation electronics for operation in AC, TMCC, DC, and DCC environments. Additionally, scale wheels and couplers are supported for the discriminating modeler. "

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...748171250SD70ACe.pdf

but not with the O scale SD70ACE from 2008

Power your locomotive with an alternating-current (AC) transformer only. Powering your locomotive with a direct-current (DC) transformer, or in excess of 19 volts AC, may result in damage to sensitive electronic components.

or the ES44 from 2011

Power your locomotive with an alternating-current (50-60Hz AC) transformer only. Powering your locomotive with a direct-current (DC) transformer, or in excess of 19 volts AC, may result in damage to sensitive electronic components

As an aside, I have no interest in the 1:48 scale trackmobile, but I would dearly LOVE to have 1:1 scale Trackmobile!

John, I wonder if the stock Lionel TMCC board inside the trackmobile will safely trigger the Atlas electro couplers for 2 rail use?

Engineer-Joe posted:

I find it interesting to read that the American Flyer with Legacy does run on DC though.

It should be possible to run Legacy on DC, though I don't know what in the O-gauge prevents it.  I take them at their word, and I'm not willing to risk a $1,000 locomotive to test if they'll run on DC.

palallin posted:

As an aside, I have no interest in the 1:48 scale trackmobile, but I would dearly LOVE to have 1:1 scale Trackmobile!

Got some rolling stock you need to move around?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

palallin posted:

As an aside, I have no interest in the 1:48 scale trackmobile, but I would dearly LOVE to have 1:1 scale Trackmobile!

Got some rolling stock you need to move around?

I wish!  No, just think it would be neat in the same way that the folks who run speeders think it's neat.  I think of it as a speeder with more moxie!

Dear Joe,

Trackmobile has a NCE decoder in it. Since this will be used at a grain elevator project on the Cherry Valley and the real Trackmobile will pull 5-7 cars on level track, the HO decoder fit the bill very well.

Overland Models never produced a O scale Trackmobile - only in HO-which I own also.

Regards, John

Strasburg Show 04/06 , 08/10 , 10/12/2019

Thank you John D.!