1862 General Collector Assembly

[Leverettrailfan]

Wow, it sure has been a while since I posted here in the CTT forums!!
This summer, I made off quite well at an antique store which I frankly never suspected would have anything in my price bracket. And yet, I ended up walking out of the store, twice, with lots and lots of goodies for comparatively very little money.

Among the finds I made, was an item stashed in the bottom of a box which I had bought without fully inspecting the contents- an 1862 General. It was extremely dusty, but aside from that it was almost 100% complete and undamaged. However the collector assembly is a mess, partially melted, and the old roller cavities completely destroyed- someone had presumably soldered some O-27 steam locomotive rollers onto the spring contact to replace the old rollers, but only one of these replacements remains. 
The loco, and especially the surviving pickup roller, get uncomfortably hot after relatively little run time, and the pickup assembly seems a likely culprit to me. It seems like the best place to get an assembly is viua eBay, where I noted there are both postwar, and MPC era collector assemblies for the 'General'.
The question is- do the MPC pickups fit the postwar Generals?
I looked up pictures of the Lionel 6-8701 General, and purely by looks, it appears the only differences between it and my 1862 (excluding changes in color/lettering) are:
-phillips head screws instead of flat head screws
-a washer below the "E" clip for the pony truck is present on the 6-8701, not my 1862
-the collector assembly utilizes an MPC style collector with rollers on brackets at each end of a springy brass strip, vs the postwar general pickup which seems to be more or less the same as the type of pickup incorperated into the plastic "scout" motor.
I prefer the design of the MPC collector over the postwar one, so if it is possible to interchange them I would like to do so. Also, the MPC version is less expensive!
Any and all help, much appreciated!
-El

[pennytrains]

I don't know the answer, but congratulations on the haul! 

[Leverettrailfan]

pennytrains

I don't know the answer, but congratulations on the haul! 

 

Many thanks on the congratulations, Becky! And what a haul it was... deserving of a forum post in its own right. Possibly the greatest triumph and simultanious "one that got away", is a close-but-not-quite aquisition of a 2273W set. I'll have to post about it when I've got the time, this weekend has me fully booked up volunteering at the local trolley museum (by my own volition, of course)!