7mm US model dabblings

[JasonD]

Hi Mick, remind me did you want the set of 6 MTH 42" plain (no gears) diesel wheelsets? RP-25, code 176, one wheel insulated per axle, 3/16" 4.78mm diam axle. Axle-end is flush with wheel-face, but replaceable (common 3/16" rod). 3 of the 6 wheelsets have the insulated wheel loose at the moment. I have a geared MTH set too, still in its factory packaging.


Jason

 

[mickoo]

Jason,

I need the MTH factory pack, product code should be

mth 20-89006 wheels

Mick D

 

[Overseer]

Peter Vincent has a website concentrating on Victorian Railways rolling stock of which he took thousands of photographs while recording the changing scene through the 1970s. He also did a number of overseas trips, with a big one in the second half of 1979. The US photos start here - Film 1416 - 10/1979 . Well worth a look for overall scenes and details of rolling stock and locos. The photo above shows one of the characteristics of 20th century US railroading, wheels and axleboxes clearly visible at the ends of boxcars. As well as a self guarding frog.

There are also some great UK loco and rolling stock photos in blue and grey on the preceding films and European after the US films. I particularly like the photos of 31 127 hauling a Mk1 coach and HST 254 003, a modelable compact train with an HST power car.

 

[richard carr]

These turned up today










The loco is an SD45T-2 tunnel motor by MTH, it is described as having Proto sound 2.0 with the Digital Command System.

Does anyone know what that means, I tried it on DCC and it doesn't like that, it does though run on DC and there is sound, but the lights are all a bit wrong. Do I really need to rip all the electronics out and fit a proper decoder ?

Does anyone know if you can convert this to P48 ? It is 2 rail, the wheel back to back is 28.3mm and there is probably just enough side play to put some P48 wheels in there.

On the whole it is a very nice model.

The wagons are nice too, they look brand new once out of their box.

Richard.

 

[Scale7JB]

These turned up today

View attachment 156883

View attachment 156884

View attachment 156885

View attachment 156886


The loco is an SD45T-2 tunnel motor by MTH, it is described as having Proto sound 2.0 with the Digital Command System.

Does anyone know what that means, I tried it on DCC and it doesn't like that, it does though run on DC and there is sound, but the lights are all a bit wrong. Do I really need to rip all the electronics out and fit a proper decoder ?

Does anyone know if you can convert this to P48 ? It is 2 rail, the wheel back to back is 28.3mm and there is probably just enough side play to put some P48 wheels in there.

On the whole it is a very nice model.

The wagons are nice too, they look brand new once out of their box.

Richard.

Very nice.

Unfortunately I think you do need to re-chip it. I could be wrong, it happens often, however I’m sure read somewhere that Protosound 2 doesn’t work with DCC, but Protosound 3 does.

JB.

 

[mickoo]

Nice

I'm not up to speed on US DCC but buyer beware.

There's obviously Lionels system which only runs on their own gear and I think

MTH I think use DCS, again may be their own gear, as John notes, it has several incremental builds.

The Atlas GP60 is quoted as having TMCC which I think is linked to Lionel but the two engines I have here work on my Roco Multimaus but quite frankly sound like a bag of

I always factor ripping out whatever is in US RTR and fitting decent DCC.

I'm sure Dave will be along and educate us all

 

[JasonD]

MTH's electronic control and sound system is DCS (Digital Command System) with Protosound. Ignore the rest of this para, unless.... It's theirs and the intention was to shaft Lionel (MTH's boss worked for Lionel, left after a falling out). Protosound 2 as a system is MTH proprietary and is not fully compatible with anything else. Like all 3-rail these days it uses DC can motors, so taking the MTH electronics out and installing insulated drives clears the way for DCC. BTW same is true for Lionel (TMCC used radio signals for proprietary remote control and the voltage circuitry runs/ran only on 60Hz Nth Am mains frequency!). I am out-of-touch with what works these days and Mick's comment about the Roco Multimaus sounds interesting.

Protosound 3 was developed to support MTH's foray into HO and was designed to work with DCC. I don't know if, for example, it's easy to consist MTH with other manufacturer's DCC equipped locos. Like all the stuff coming out of China, I have no idea how easy it is to get locos repaired so converting to DCC may be the best option. I have an MTH ES44 diesel which has been worked lightly on DCC circuits now for 4 years. It does run on DC, but if the supply is 12vDC, the loco's electronics takes the first 5-7 volts, so the loco doesn't run at more than a crawl.

There's one other DCC/Sound factor regarding Loksound: one/some of the chips bought in the US and in Europe have the same part number, but different variation number and treat certain sounds differently, so British stocks may deliver an inappropriate sound for American use. Somebody remind me!!
Jason

 

[JasonD]

Not for P48ers, but Peartree wheels can be used for replacing some 3-rail wheels. For example, Peartree 2'8" wagon wheels can replace 3-rail wheels for 36" wheel 100-ton frt cars and many passenger cars. I use 10% as the easy factor in converting UK 7mm wheel diameters to US Ow5. So Peartree 3'1" screw-on wheels suit me for 40" diesel wheels and they have the right 3/16" axle diameter to fit in MTH, Lionel, etc 3-rail truck assemblies. The secret is to keep banging those gears together - oh sorry all, I feel another dip into the Hitch Hiker's Guide coming on.
Jason

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Does anyone know what that means, I tried it on DCC and it doesn't like that, it does though run on DC and there is sound, but the lights are all a bit wrong. Do I really need to rip all the electronics out and fit a proper decoder ?

As @JasonD has replied MTH had thier own DCC system. Personally I would be ripping out the electronics and replace the decoder with ESU Loksound v5 and a decent speaker - and there's no need to buy ESU decoders specifically for the US market. This is what I'll be doing with my Atlas GP35.

If you have access to an ESU Lokprogrammer the ESU US sound files are available as downloads LokSound 5 North American and Australian Sound files - ESU. You'll require the sounds for an EMD645E prime mover for the Tunnel Motor.

Does anyone know if you can convert this to P48 ? It is 2 rail, the wheel back to back is 28.3mm and there is probably just enough side play to put some P48 wheels in there.

You probably can. It'd be a question of dismantling the trucks to see what's there. If you are going down the P48 route then it'd be worth considering moving the truck frames inwards to improve the appearance. Which is what I did with my Atlas Dash 8-40B with the before and after views.

 

[richard carr]

Dave

That looks very nice, so did that start out as 2 rail or 3 rail and end up as P48 ?

Richard

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Started out as 2 rail but the trucks are 3 rail width. This photo shows the 2 Atlas rail wheels (left) and a P48 set (right)



And this is after I moved the truck frames inwards with P48 wheels.

 

[richard carr]

Dave

Thanks that is really helpful, where did you get the wheels from ?

Richard

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The wheels are NWSL P48 40'' drop in replacements for Atlas locos. They also do 3r to 2r P48 conversion sets for MTH locos

 

[richard carr]

Thanks Dave

I have now rediscovered your P48 thread I need to go right back to the beginning and read it all

Richard

 

[richard carr]

These finally turned up yesterday, 23 days to make over the pond from California, but well worth the wait.












These are the P48 trucks that Protocraft sell, made in Korea by Boo Rim Precision above is an A3 ride control solid bearing truck and the top one is a Barber S2 100ton roller bearing truck.

Richard

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

These are the P48 trucks that Protocraft sell, made in Korea by Boo Rim Precision above is an A3 ride control solid bearing truck and the top one is a Barber S2 100ton roller bearing truck.

Do the end caps rotate on the 100T trucks?

I went down the easy route using Jim Lincoln P48 Atlas P48 bolster conversions. Jim Lincoln Shapeways Store.



The Atlas bolster is at the bottom.



Atlas on the right, Jim Lincoln on the left. Both with Potocraft P48 33" wheels.


Jim also does end caps for the roller bearing truks.


Left is the original Atlas truck and right is the modified truck with the P48 bolsters and wheels.



Depending on how far you want to go - one thing I noticed was the lettering on the car ends or in the data panels - 1W Wrought Steel Wheels. 1W means the wheels are used one and discarded once worn. 2W or higher means the wheels have a thicker tread which allows them to be re-profiled for further use and have a thicker tyre. Therefore 4W wheels get turned and re-profiled 3 times before discarding. You may have noticed Protocraft offer this in their range.

These are enlargements of images @Big Train James and @mickoo posted on my P48 thread.

 

[richard carr]

Dave

Yes the end caps do rotate on the 100 ton trucks, the axles run in ball bearings too.

That's all good information about the wheels.

Richard

 

[Brian T]

Just to add to the P48 truck post`s;
Jim also has some 'scale' bolsters,

Now it`s been a while since i put these together, (5 pairs) but if i remember right i`ve used Protocraft 36" wheel set`s and because the bolsters are dead scale along with the narrower side frames i`ve had to reduce the the lengh of the axle end`s so the bearing caps sat correctly. You`ll also notice that unlike the ones that Dave posted these these need the freight car to have a proper bolster mount.

And in addition to the A3 truck from Protocraft that Richard posted you can also get some beautiful trucks from Rich Yoder too....

These are a set of Pennsylvania railroad 2D-F8 trucks forund under various class of their freight cars,but as far as i know he`s never marketed 'modern' 70t and 100t RB truck`s...(stbc!)

These trucks are some real oldies...! they were made by Overland back in the day. (80`s perhaps?)
not sure what there based on (ASF 70 ton trucks?) but there pretty basic and did for me when i first got into P48 a good 10 years or so ago; though i have`nt done much!

Brian.

 

[mickoo]

These finally turned up yesterday, 23 days to make over the pond from California, but well worth the wait.

View attachment 157088

View attachment 157089

View attachment 157090

View attachment 157091

View attachment 157092


These are the P48 trucks that Protocraft sell, made in Korea by Boo Rim Precision above is an A3 ride control solid bearing truck and the top one is a Barber S2 100ton roller bearing truck.

Richard

Nice, shame they only do the Barbers in P48

 

[richard carr]

Another loco that turned up on UK Ebay that I just couldn't resist, the livery does date it as late 96 early 97 but I can live with that.



Here it is straight out of the box, looking at the wheels I don't think this has ever been run. It is described as an Atlas Gold Series Diesel equipped with QSI Quantum System and DCC Sound Decoder. I tested it on my NCE system and it runs and sounds great.







Now I just need to convert it to P48 !

Richard