I recently snagged a 3-car set of hard-to-find NJ International brass New Haven "Washboard" MU cars off ebay. (HO scale.) They're really nice models, but the stock drives don't run worth a damn. As I've got a small hoard of Walthers 'metroliner' MU drives on hand for just such a reason, I set about repowering the NJI brass cars with them. Originally the 3-car set had one powered "motor" coach and two trailing "motor" coaches; but I went ahead and powered all three coaches. (I also picked up a 4th "Club" car from a friend, in trade for repowering one of his to be layout-ready to run with mine. I did not power the "Club" car.)
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The stock drive. It sounds like a blender, does not have the ability to pull unpowered cars, and ended up breaking both spring belts in under an hour.
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The powered car with the stock drive removed, in preparation for fitting the new drive.
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The trailing trucks also got extra wheel wipers, to give each powered car all-wheel pickup.
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The floor after cutting to clear the new drive truck swing.
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Fitting the repurposed Walthers drive truck required fabrication of a new bolster. A short length of brass bar stock with an 0-80 roundhead screw for the kingpin pivot works wonderfully.
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About ready to start hooking up the decoder and assemble the car.
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With the body set on the floor/drive, testing it on the layout. Note that the motor/flywheels are still unpainted here, so you can clearly make them out through the windows.
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