The old "pancake" motors were mounted on a single truck, so you only had four wheels powering an 8 wheel diesel. They resembled a short spool mounted on the truck. They were offered in cheap discount house train sets. In short, they were junk. I'm sure many youngsters were lost to the hobby after receiving those train sets for Christmas, discouraged by the poor performance.
A pancake motor especially on the older Bachmann locos is a small motor mounted atop one of the trucks. All the wheels in THAT truck are driven, the wheels in the other truck pick up power. The armature is usually small flat and thin and the motors for the most part are noisy as the gears were quite cheap.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Ok! Here goes (showing ignorance but also willing to learn).........In the replies to my post "Hong Kong / China", there were references to "Pancake" motors and "Pancake" drives. I do have an HO background but never really got into the mechanical "nuts & bolts" of the trains.
Please......In simple non-technical terms, what is a 'pancake' and what are the alternatives, pros and cons. As always, many thanks.