Re-Motoring parts sources needed

[Anonymous]

Among my roster, I have a pair of older On3 brass2-6-0 locos originally built with open frame motors located in the tender, with driveshaft connecting the tender motor to the mechanisn in the 'locomotive'. There is room to mount a modern micromotor or gearhead motor in the smokebox area, direct coupled to the worm grear drive on the center driver. I was hoping someone here could recomend a website or hobbyshop that specialises in high quality motors for remotoring. I need to see specs for size, shafts, RPM, etc. to allow me to choose a motor that will fit. None of my local hobby shops carry much of an inventory.....I tried all of them first, and struck out. FYI, although these engines are O scale, 3 foot narrow gauge engines are small,...and among that group, these are smaller than average, being 188os vintage Brooks prototype. Also, trains are short. A micromotor sized for HO would be plenty of power, even overkill. They will be DCC controlled, and sound will be installed in the tender. Thanks in advance, Jennifer

[stokesda]

Have you tried Northwest Short Line? (www.nwsl.com)

Their website isn't terribly user-friendly, but if you search through the online catalogs and brochures enough, you might find the info you're looking for. There are some technical pages in the catalog that give specs and other technical info on the parts. A while back I was thinking about re-powering a loco I have and spent a lot of time looking through their website and thought it was pretty helpful.

Cheers,

[Anonymous]

I was going to order the NWSL paper catalog if I couln't find what I need online. I have tried their website and found it good in some areas and poor in others....typical of a lot of websites. They make GREAT wheelsets in every scale, probably the best in the world....Might as well give them a promo for that ...

[twhite]

Jennifer--I've repowered several of my older brass HO locomotives with NWSL motors, and they're really excellent quality, very smooth running and quite powerful for their size. You might check the Walther's 2005 catalogue, which features several pages on their motors, shaft sizes, compatability, etc. I highly recommend them. In fact, combining the NWSL motors with Tomar Indrustries track slider pickups has turned several former 'basket cases' of mine from the '60's into locomotives that run as well, if not better, than several of my newer BLI's.
Tom [:D]

[Anonymous]

Well I revisited the NWSL web site and suffered through their PDF based listings. I do not like PDFs online, hard to navigate and data hogs...BIG and sssssllllllllooooooowwwwww to load. Anyway, after 20 minutes of searching around I finally found their page on motors. No gearhead motors, no Swiss presision motors, no coreless motors, no ball bearing motors, just nice can type motors. I was hoping to find a dealer/supplier for some more exotic motors with ball bearings and skewed 5 or 7 pole armatures, and possibly gear heads. If I can't find those, I'l settle for a more 'generic' semi-precision can motor such as offered by NWSL, which I am sure are good motors....., but I'm only doing this once to this pair of locos, and they are nice brass models, worth spending a few extra $$ to get the very best I can find. Jennifer

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jennifer RR

. . . No gearhead motors, no Swiss precision motors, no coreless motors, no ball bearing motors, just nice can type motors. I was hoping to find a dealer/supplier for some more exotic motors with ball bearings and skewed 5 or 7 pole armatures, and possibly gear heads. . . . Jennifer

Jennifer,
I remembered some discussion of coreless motors on earlier threads and just did an advanced search on the MR Forums only, going back three years. I'm no expert, but If you plan to use DCC, apparently chosing the correct decoder will be critical, especially if the locos are sitting still, idling. You may want to do a search.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P. S. Here's a link to MicroMo:
http://www.micromo.com/

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the MicroMo link.....I'm going there now!

Jennifer

EDIT: Just been to thte MicroMo website.....Several good options in gearhead motors are right there! .....found exactly what I want, THANKS!!!

This is what I love about this forum, lots of good advice, and in a very short time.

[Anonymous]

try Motorman at Micro Loco-motion

[Don Gibson]

KEY is size - what'll fit.

Measure (with caliper's) the overall size, mounting, and shaft Diameter..

I'd also recommend CALLING NWSL for help. German made industrial micro motor's can get expensive.

[MRTerry]

You might also want to consider some of the motors that are OEM equipment in contemporary diesel and steam locomotives. They're very good, and most manufacturers will sell them as replacement parts. Here are a few examples of motors that might work (note: I have NOT checked availability or price on any of these). The Athearn Genesis diesel motor is actually a Roco motor with skew-wound armature. The Trix Mikado uses a small DC motor with bell-shaped armature that might fit in the smokebox of your locomotive. And Kato offers a variety of motors both with and without flywheels. These motors are not exotic - no ball bearings or other high-end features - but they're very high-quality pieces made specifically for model train applications.
Thanks for reading MR,
Terry

[jrbarney]

Jennifer,
Here's another alternative I found today at the American Limited Models Web site:
http://www.americanlimitedmodels.com
"The Faulhaber motor and gearbox that is used in the C16 is available to repower locomotives from O scale down to large steam engines in HO scale. The gearbox is a custom bevel and spur gear design with a 70.8:1 overall ratio. It uses precision cut gears of Delrin and stainless steel, and the system comes with bearings for 1/8" and 3MM axles. The system is designed for extremely smooth low speed operation and has shown great reliability in testing. In a locomotive driver skid endurance test, the gearbox more than matched the reliability of the Micromotor. Minimum driver diameter for track clearance is .69 inch (60 inch in HO). Price of the system is $198.00. Contact San Juan Car Company, PO Box 1028, Durango, CO 81302"
Did a Google search for San Juan, but apparently they don't have a Web site.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

Funny thing, I was planning on getting one of the San Juan C16s to bulld into Nevada County NG 8 . I had no idea that they sell the drive seperate fron the kit.