scaro
New Member
Posts: 16
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Post by scaro on Mar 28, 2015 0:52:02 GMT -8
Hi
Wondering what the design of the truck is like on current E units. I'm trying to see which could be regauged. Atlas HO trucks are virtually designed for it but not sure of Proto/Walthers. Wondering if anyone has an image of their truck so I can see ...
Cheers
Benjamin
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Post by mlehman on Mar 28, 2015 3:32:43 GMT -8
I don't know about E unit trucks, but have done my fair share of narrowgauging the trucks on other models. There, the ultimate limit is the width of the gearbox.
You don't specify whether you're wanting to widen or narrow the trucks on E units. Knowing which you're after would be helpful. I suspect wider is not a problem.
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scaro
New Member
Posts: 16
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Post by scaro on Mar 28, 2015 5:40:18 GMT -8
12mm. Atlas will seem to go to HOn3 with no problem, but not sure of the design of Proto E unit trucks.
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Post by mlehman on Mar 28, 2015 9:52:03 GMT -8
scaro, Lots of E unit discussion here lately. Maybe one of them can help? The Rio Grande never had any, so I'm ignorant about the models, too. So looks like it's either HOm (HO meter gauge) or TT standard gauge. 12mm does gives you a little better chance of it fitting.
Don't know if you'll end up needing to substitute something else, but I'll suggest the Kato HO NW2 chasssis. Goes down to HOn3 (10.5mm) readily enough and you end up with a very smooth operator, so should work for 12mm.
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scaro
New Member
Posts: 16
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Post by scaro on Mar 31, 2015 5:33:15 GMT -8
The question is whether the HO loco has a wheelbase that translates to something meaningful in TT. An HO NW2 ought to be 28mm wheelbase, which equates to an 11" wheelbase in TT, too long for B-B /four axle unit.
The only loco that springs to mind as having an 11" wheelbase is an RSC3, but adding a centre axle to B trucks tends not to be easy since they inevitably have gears located in the case about where you'd want to put a centre axle.
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Post by mlehman on Mar 31, 2015 7:21:09 GMT -8
Duh-oh, I forgot E units have 3 axles per truck, which shows how much I normally think about them Can anyone help with a gearbox width measurement on their E unit?
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Post by mlehman on Mar 31, 2015 7:33:15 GMT -8
Duh-oh, I forgot E units have 3 axles per truck, which shows how much I normally think about them Can anyone help with a gearbox width measurement on their E unit?
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Post by onequiknova on Mar 31, 2015 7:51:31 GMT -8
The gear box on a BLI E measures about .320". There is plenty of room to narrow the gauge, but the way the axles are designed doesn't make it easy. The axle gear has shoulders that extend out to set the gauge. You'd have to trim them down to narrow the gauge of the axles.
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Post by mlehman on Apr 1, 2015 7:44:50 GMT -8
John, Thanks, that's good info to know. It's a little early for math, but a quick visual comparison shows it might even work for HOn3 as well as 12 mm. It would be really tight. Kinda hard to visualize a 3' gauge E unit, but the parts could well serve as the basis of a credible build of something else.
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