Back in the early 70s, I actually made an electric loco out of an Arnold FA, just to prove to the local hobby shop owner that N scale could be run from overhead wire.
The pickup system was very simple on those, so insulating one side from the rails, and running a wire to the roof, was no problem. I didn't bother with a pantograph, just a "bow" collector, bent wire, a rubber band, and a block of balsa. The over head was just as simple, a board, piece of flextrack, two long nails (one at each end - doubled as stops for the loco), and a length of wire stretched between the nails.
Took it to the shop, hooked it up to his test power pack, and it worked fine. He was a dedicated O scaler, and didn't think N would ever amount to much. He sold plenty of it, but never studied it. European modelers had been using live overhead since the mid 60s.
Put decent pans on one, and it wouldn't look bad as an electric. I've considered doing it to one of mine.
