How would I do these smol NS electrics in N?

[Iain]

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Paging @Jim Starbuck

What would be the way to do these such that they run well?  I think that they are short enough they trucks don't necessarily need to rotate, but I would like to have good reliable low friction pickup.

[Jim Starbuck]

I’m not familiar with those. Do you know who built them or some approximate dimensions?
A couple things come to mind for a mech. I would use trucks from Kato 11-105/106/1107 chassis. They have the worm captured in the truck and driven with a driveshaft. They also have good axle cup pickup. I did this on a Davenport 45 tonner which might be an option for both trucks powered.
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I fit the worms to the motor shaft to do away with the extra length created by the driveshaft to shorten the truck spacing. It took two donors since there’s only one powered truck per.
Are there STL files available for the car bodies?

[u18b]

For that loco, the key is low worms to the trucks.

The Kato NW2 trucks would be a good start on a custom mechanism like Jim described.
Coreless motor come pretty small these days.   
I power a Shay with a 7mm motor.

[Jim Starbuck]

For that loco, the key is low worms to the trucks.

The Kato NW2 trucks would be a good start on a custom mechanism like Jim described.
Coreless motor come pretty small these days.   
I power a Shay with a 7mm motor.

Kato NW2 trucks came to mind also Ron since the worm is in the truck. Bachmann S4 has a similar setup.
One advantage here is the carbody rides high on the trucks. Might just give enough room to do it.
6 and 7mm coreless single and double shaft motors are my go-to.

[Jim Starbuck]

Depending if the axle spacing is close a Bachmann S4 truck might work. It has an offset gear tower and I think the worm coupling can be turned around. This would get the gear tower farther inboard where there’s more height under the shell.

[StarCruiser]

Here's a Youtube video on a similar N scale project:

[randgust]

I did Randy Stahls North Shore Electric battery unit with a short-wheelbase Tomytec truck set and a 6mm 25:1 gearhead to one truck.  It was a Shapeways printed shell.  The Tomytec trucks have a low, centered gear tower.   We were doing a second one until he passed.    It worked pretty well.   That approach had two advantages - it could handle really absurdly tight curves and it had excellent low speed control and torque.   

What the real challenge is is getting any weight on it for tractive effort and pickup. You'd want a big slug of something in the cab.  And of course there's like zero room for a decoder, unless maybe you stuffed a DZ126T under the cab like I do on my Climax A's.

Randy had done an exceptional job of designing the shell and producting a nicely painted static model that he sent me to power.  But looking at this, there's still more 'hood' on the North Shore unit that what you have to deal with there, and mine was super tight.   But it worked.
https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CTR-CNSM-456-Mundelein.jpg

When I looked at that sweet PE unit I was baffled how he powered it, relief to find out he didn't, it's a powered boxcar!

Jim, I'm assuming on your build the trucks don't pivot?   What curves can it handle?

[peteski]

Black truck is Kato NW2 and silver is Kato RDC.  For more photos of those trucks see https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=1269;u=2700

[Jim Starbuck]

I did Randy Stahls North Shore Electric battery unit with a short-wheelbase Tomytec truck set and a 6mm 25:1 gearhead to one truck.  It was a Shapeways printed shell.  The Tomytec trucks have a low, centered gear tower.   We were doing a second one until he passed.    It worked pretty well.   That approach had two advantages - it could handle really absurdly tight curves and it had excellent low speed control and torque.   

What the real challenge is is getting any weight on it for tractive effort and pickup. You'd want a big slug of something in the cab.  And of course there's like zero room for a decoder, unless maybe you stuffed a DZ126T under the cab like I do on my Climax A's.

Randy had done an exceptional job of designing the shell and producting a nicely painted static model that he sent me to power.  But looking at this, there's still more 'hood' on the North Shore unit that what you have to deal with there, and mine was super tight.   But it worked.
https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CTR-CNSM-456-Mundelein.jpg

When I looked at that sweet PE unit I was baffled how he powered it, relief to find out he didn't, it's a powered boxcar!

Jim, I'm assuming on your build the trucks don't pivot?   What curves can it handle?

Thanks for the input Randy.
I haven’t started a build. The O/P just asked how I would go about it. I don’t have a shell or even drawings or print files so no target yet to even shoot for. I haven’t found the seller referenced in the video either.

[randgust]

Found my pictures.   Again, I did the chassis only, rest was Randy Stahl.

That's a Solarbotics GM15a motor and gearbox with a 100-ohm resistor.   I'd have to dig to remember what Tomytec chassis we used, short wheelbase, end axles, center gear tower (low).



Link: http://www.randgust.com/45615%20chassis%204.jpg

And with the 456 body on it.


Link:  http://www.randgust.com/45611%20finished%204.jpg

Every square inch of the inside of the body was loaded up with lead including a slug under the frame.  It could handle a good 6 cars or more, meeting Randy's requirements.

We'd also started the 457, had to redesign the Shapeways print slightly larger to fit over the gear tower.  Got the shell but Randy passed, never finished it.   If someone really wants the 457 finished, give me a holler, same design just different shell.

https://i0.wp.com/thetrolleydodger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/aae574.jpg?ssl=1

I've ever only seen two of these in my life, the first was a run of the 'real' Texas Transportation Co. in San Antonio before that closed, the second was the steeplecab out at the Illinois Railway Museum on a members weekend:

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[Chris333]

I think Tomytec or someone like that made a dummy steeple cab in N that you could swap out with a power chassis. I can't find a link to it right now, but I do own one.


EDIT I could not find one single photo of what I'm talking about, but I remembered one of the Modutrak guys had one.
https://www.modutrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/nscale-modutrak-national-train-show-2010-017.jpg

[Iain]

So, I do not have any kind of dimensional data besides "small".

I am fairly confident that these are GE, but beyond that, I'm not sure.  I did once at a train show find a brass HO model for sale that would have fit the bill perfectly, but it was outside my budget, and had no markings as to make/importer.

[Jim Starbuck]

This is an intriguing project. I’m confident it can be done.
There is a 3d file available for a GE 50 tonner that I could try as a starting point.

Chris,
Mike used to put that steeplecab on the Waterford Ave bridge as a stand in until I built the TMER&L L4.
I could ask him if he still has it to see what it is.

Randy,
That’s a nice looking drive you built for Randy.
The IRM video is the L4 that I built the model of. Cool to see it running.
Mine is a modified Shapeways on a BanDai chassis.

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[randgust]

Randy,

The IRM video is the L4 that I built the model of. Cool to see it running.

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Good.   Now after that video you know the right horn for when you put sound in it 

[Iain]

This is an intriguing project. I’m confident it can be done.
There is a 3d file available for a GE 50 tonner that I could try as a starting point.

Chris,
Mike used to put that steeplecab on the Waterford Ave bridge as a stand in until I built the TMER&L L4.
I could ask him if he still has it to see what it is.

Randy,
That’s a nice looking drive you built for Randy.
The IRM video is the L4 that I built the model of. Cool to see it running.
Mine is a modified Shapeways on a BanDai chassis.

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I'm curious what that 50 tonner looks like.