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My kitchen table looks like an Alco locomotive shop.
I bought two MTH RS1s. One was a powered NYC and the other was a dummy Milwaukee Road unit.
The NYC engine took a header off the previous owner’s layout and the rear pilot and handrails were damaged. I used the Milwaukee unit as a donor for the frame. I disassembled the powered unit and transferred the motors, truck, boards and smoke unit over to the dummy frame. The dummy framed lacked the tapped lands for securing the boards, so I had to drill a hole and use a self tapping screw to fasten down the board assembly through the heat sink to the frame.
It took a little trial and error with the putting the parts back together. At first, I had the headlights installed at the wrong ends of the frame, as the rear headlight would come on with the start up function. The Wrong headlight would light, opposite the direction the engine was traveling. I swapped the light cluster and harnesses around and that solved the problem.
The NYC engine still needs to have the handrails tightened and painted. With the swap, I lost the zebra stripes on the anti climbers, but the effect is hardly noticeable.
The Milwaukee shell is in perfect condition. The old NYC frame is toast. I harvested the handrails stanchions for my slug project.
Pictured below is the NYC Alco and the slug unit in the midst of getting final body work...
Tom
I bought two MTH RS1s. One was a powered NYC and the other was a dummy Milwaukee Road unit.
The NYC engine took a header off the previous owner’s layout and the rear pilot and handrails were damaged. I used the Milwaukee unit as a donor for the frame. I disassembled the powered unit and transferred the motors, truck, boards and smoke unit over to the dummy frame. The dummy framed lacked the tapped lands for securing the boards, so I had to drill a hole and use a self tapping screw to fasten down the board assembly through the heat sink to the frame.
It took a little trial and error with the putting the parts back together. At first, I had the headlights installed at the wrong ends of the frame, as the rear headlight would come on with the start up function. The Wrong headlight would light, opposite the direction the engine was traveling. I swapped the light cluster and harnesses around and that solved the problem.
The NYC engine still needs to have the handrails tightened and painted. With the swap, I lost the zebra stripes on the anti climbers, but the effect is hardly noticeable.
The Milwaukee shell is in perfect condition. The old NYC frame is toast. I harvested the handrails stanchions for my slug project.
Pictured below is the NYC Alco and the slug unit in the midst of getting final body work...
Tom
