8 year olds request...

[brianel027]

What's with all the worry? Stick with the 3-rail Lionel's and such and paint your own. I've done my own Disney, Warner Bros. Sesame Street and SpongeBob cars. My nephew is really into SpongeBob. I don't need to spend gobs of money for this stuff from the companies.

Plus my nephew sees me doing this stuff and now he wants to do it. He comes up with ideas and suggestions, which pleases me because I can see he's thinking about this. Kids are not dumb, but they are not rivet counters the way some adults are. My nephew recognizes paint schemes far before specific types of cars or models of locomotives. He like's his Conrail Alco FA and he's been bugging me to make him a CSX loco in the orange MOW scheme. When he comes to visit he pulls the MOW CSX unit off my layout to run on his layout.

But while he likes certain paint schemes, he'll just as readily put together a train of freight cars along with a SpongeBob car for example.

You certainly could start with nearly any Lionel steam engine, or the basic K-Line one and repaint the loco and tender to the paint scheme you want. Microscale makes decals in lettering sets.

We adults often forget this, but at one time Lionel trains were not about digital technology, 100% true scale proportions, proper chuff rates or any of this other nonsense. At one time today's typical mid-50's aged modeler was also 8-years old and operated his trains back then in much the same way an 8-year old would today.

The trains were about pretend, they were about fun, durability, play value, implied realism, and they can still be about that. And as I have with my nephew, you'll find Bri that this can be a superb way to bond with your cousin. And chances are he'll blab to all his friends about all the fun he's having making a train layout and painting his own trains!

[Anonymous]

Hey MTH, since Lionel is wrapped up in the Polar Express/Disney/TTE, how about a nifty railking P.S. 2 Hogwarts Express in O? I know, I know, big-time tooling expenses and licenceing fees. But the tooling could be reused to make very, very cool Flying Scotsman set. (A very similar train.) The drive could be used in a Mallard. (Make that one a 3-2!)

I would switch to DCS for that. (Really, blend it with my TMCC set.)

What the heck does Spongebob have to do with trains, anyway?

Mike W. - you can't win if you don't play!

Old 2037

[Anonymous]

I think its nice you think of your cousin like that, but spending that much on an 8 year old isn't realistic.

Trust me, I was so atached to my wooden Thomas trains, when I was in the sixth grade, I was buying them and saying they were for my sister. I spent mabe $300 dollars on the stuff. No one belived me after that, so I quit.

So, just build a 4x8 HO with stations and buidings from Hornby, a british maker of trains and stock, paint some Pringles cans to look like a castle, add some more things like stright walls from manila flder painted likie a castle, plop it in his room at his house and boom, you have spent maybe a $100 dollars or less.

steel rails

[lionelsoni]

Brian e-mailed me for more detail about a conversion. I looked at the auction, which seems to indicate that the locomotive is not powered, as Brian mentioned in his earlier posting: "I bought this loco arround a year ago on ebay, intending to repaint and motorise. this loco used to run on an outdoor layout ahead of motorised carrages."

So the first problem is to be sure that it does in fact have a motor already. Then it is necessary to be sure that the flanges are deep enough to work on toy-train track. There may also be a concern about the gauge. If it is 32 millimeters or 1 1/4 inches that is fine. If it is 33 millimeters, it might be necessary to regauge it for American tinplate track.

Assuming that all this mechanical stuff can be resolved, the next step is to convert from DC to AC. (I am obviously assuming that a two-rail locomotive would run on DC.) This is the relatively easy part.

A three-rail locomotive is powered from the outside rails as one side of the circuit and the center rail as the other side. A two-rail locomotive's power circuit is simply the two rails. So the existing connections to the wheels can be wired together to make one side of the circuit. But a pickup must be added for the center rail. This can probably be improvised simply by mounting a Lionel or other brand pickup under the locomotive or tender (or, better, both).

Next wire the two sides of this circuit (wheels and pickup) to the AC inputs of a bridge rectifier. Radio Shack sells a 4-ampere 50-volt bridge that would be suitable. The AC terminals are marked with "AC" or the ~ symbol. The DC then can be taken from the + and - terminals.

A Lionel e-unit has two terminals. One of these is connected both to the coil and to the contact fingers, sometimes with a red wire. This is one side of the input circuit; connect it to the + terminal of the rectifier. The other side is the frame of the e-unit. If you want to use the switch built into the e-unit, connect the frame to the - terminal of the rectifier. If the built-in switch is inconveniently located for the new locomotive, you can connect the - terminal of the rectifier instead to the other e-unit terminal, either directly or, if you still want a switch, through a single-pole-single-throw toggle or slide switch mounted in a more convenient place.

Wire the DC motor to the blue and yellow wires of the e-unit. Connect the green wire of the e-unit to the - terminal of the rectifier.

[lionelsoni]

If we are talking about converting a 2-rail DC locomotive to 3-rail AC, it's not that hard. You have to find some suitable pickups, of course, possibly Lionel discards. Connect the existing wires from the left and right side wheels together for the other side of the track circuit. Then wire the two sides of this circuit to the AC inputs of a bridge rectifier. Connect the DC output of the rectifier to an e-unit (red wire and e-unit frame). Connect the DC motor where you would normally put the AC motor's armature (blue and yellow wires). Short the e-unit's field wire (green) to the e-unit frame.

Be sure the 2-rail locomotive has flanges suitable for toy-train track.

[Anonymous]

ok well i have been in contact with the seller of that loco in england... the loco is a non-powered unit and the tender is the powered unit but does not work.... my question is what will i have to do in order to conver this to a working 3 rail loco. she stated that i could add a tristar motor for about L35, but that is not what i want to do. i would like to motorize the loco make it work with my lionel 3 rail items..

again any help is appreciated
Brian

[Anonymous]

thank-you for all your help....

the reason i want to stay o gauge is that EVERYTHING that i have is O. i want to setup in the same area so i think it will lokk odd (at best) running a whole bunch of O and then 1 HO. I am actually going to try to go pretty nuts with this with a homeade handmade castle since i can't find a suitable model. the williow, quidditch pitch forest, lake etc... i have been doing a lot of research into this and i am going to try to make it lifelike. I like that O gauge ebay link posted, and i am hoping on trying to hit the edison, nj show to see if i find anything this weekend.

if not that greyback is looking perfect.. o guage and in need of help... what would i need to do to convert to 3 reail

Thanks again for all the help
Brian

[Anonymous]

The Italian firm "Lima" made a series of British 4 axle "0" scale coaches. Check with Ebay. I've seen them there a few times. They also produced a diesel and a 0-6-0 goods loco with a tender. For the loco. You might consider modifing an MTH 4-6-0.

[eZAK]

I second the motion for the Bachman HO.
For an 8 year old this will fit the bill.

Here is the link; http://www.trainworld1.com/bachmann/bachmann_HO_train_sets.htm
Scroll down to find it.
I don't know if this set comes with track & transformer but you can also pick that up.

[pbjwilson]

Heres a 4-6-0 that could be a starting point. You'd have to tinker with it, no motor.

http://cgi.ebay.com/O-guage-Ex-claedonian-4-6-0-grey-back_W0QQitemZ5992513672QQcategoryZ485QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[lionelsoni]

Well, about half. The O that it is half of is larger than American O (1/43.5 rather than 1/48); and toy-train O is often undersized. Furthermore, the British OO that Bob Keller recommended is larger than HO (1/76 rather than 1/87, although it runs on 16.5-millimeter HO track). The bottom line is that OO might be about 70 percent of our toy-train O, rather than 50 percent. (HO is 55 to 60 percent, depending on how close the O trains are to scale).

Although Maerklin HO runs on AC, they use a high-voltage pulse to sequence the e-unit rather than the interruption that we use. This limits the usefulness of an American transformer for running their trains.

[Anonymous]

HO means Half O- so its half the size.

[Anonymous]

So i am assuming that NO ONE makes an o gauge kit. i have never run HO and know very little about it. How much smaller is this going to be over o-gauge.

the marklin kit is nice... the djk is nice but going to be VERY expensive...
Brian

[Anonymous]

While the kit is impressive, so is the price. That's over 700 dollars and it isn't a working model. It also isn't the correct locomotive. The HWE is driven by a Great Western Hall series locomotive, not a London Midland & Scotish Jubilee. If your'e going to spend that much it might as well be correct.

Marklin has an AC stud rail version:

http://www.marklin.com/start/ho.html

[pbjwilson]

How bout something like this. You could paint the engine and coaches in the Hogwarts "maroon".

Good-luck and have fun.

http://cgi.ebay.com/K-Line-Santa-Fe-Steam-Chief-0-0-27-Train-Set_W0QQitemZ5992179647QQcategoryZ28139QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[dougdagrump]

What I am about to say is "Blasphemy" on a 3Rail forum but why not check out doing it in HO. I believe Trainworld was blowing out the "Hogwarts Express", believe it was the larger set of the two, for under $70. Granted it is a smaller scale but the required items are much more readily available at a considerably lower cost.

[Anonymous]

well the nice loco is going to run me more than i am going to want to spend.. probably like 700 or so... and lego is out because i want something to look real.. i may me buying the horby kit but what else ill i need. i will be needing more track... and a tansformer doubting that it will work with my zw...

thanks
Brian

[Big_Boy_4005]

Unfortunately, Lionel is still stuck on Thomas the Tank Engine, and the Polar Express. Harry Potter has completely passed the US 3 rail market by. It may have to do with the costly licensing.

Your best bet may be Lego. Not only have they made a model of the train, but they also have a complete line of figures and structures to match, and of course all lego bricks are compatable. Lot's of play value.

[Bob Keller]

You might want to research it a bit and try to get some of the OO gauge Harry Potter gear made by Hornby. I've got the OO by Bachmann it is is pretty cheap (empty coaches and can't go around a curve w/o derailing).

[railfanespee4449]

P. S. you might have to modify the engine to work on 3-rail track.

[railfanespee4449]

http://www.djhengineering.co.uk/loco/prodloco.asp?ProdID=3047

you also need the wheelset and motor

[Anonymous]

hello all.

i have an 8 year old cousin who absolutely love when i crank up the trains and let him help operate them. He recently asked me if i could make a layout more geated toward him. He wants me to make a full Harry Potter Layout. i told him that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Well lo and behold i stuck my big old foot right into my mouth. All of my stuff is 3 rail o-gauge... and i can't find anything to start with. firstly i need a 4-6-0 steam to start with then i need a replica of the castle.

If anyone could help me out i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Brian