PIKO, German Engine

[ejseider]

A German friend of mine, knowing that I have a HO train set, recently sent me a new engine made by PIKO (German).  Unfortunately it is for a 3 rail power set up.  Does anyone know if there is a way to convert this to 2 rail power?

[rogertra]

A German friend of mine, knowing that I have a HO train set, recently sent me a new engine made by PIKO (German).  Unfortunately it is for a 3 rail power set up.  Does anyone know if there is a way to convert this to 2 rail power?

Yes it probably can be converted but not easy and probably beyond your ability if you have to ask how. 

Google the locomotive to see if it's convertible.

Cheers

Roger T.

[Doneldon]

ej-

It is possible to adapt a three-rail, AC model locomotive to two-rail DC but only from the perspective that almost anything can be done if one has sufficient expertise, time and money. Let me present just a few of the complications.

First, your German Piko loco has an AC motor. AC is just fine but you can't just provide a different form of power and expect it to work. In this case, you will need a new motor.

More significantly, your engine picks up one side of its electrical power from both outside rails and the other side from the center rail. You must remove the shoe that rides the center rail. Although that's not a particularly big task, it leaves your loco as part of an incomplete circuit, and that means it won't go. So ... you'll need to supply one pole of the electric power to one outside rail and the other pole to the opposite rail. That's how DC works and it works just fine. However, you will have a dead short if you put your Piko locomotive on the DC tracks because the wheels on both sides are electrically connected. That leads to the biggest problem of all: You must remove all of the wheels, separate them electrically and reinstall them. Insulating the wheels from one another is not enough, by the way; you must also insulate the wheels on at least one side of the loco from the chassis. Separating the wheels electrically will be very difficult. Isolating the wheels and axles from the frame will be a huge problem. These operations could force you to machine the hubs and/or axles and machine the journals into which the wheels fit. Of course this remounting must include a provision for isolating the wheels from the chassis with the new journals. And you still wouldn't be done because you will also have to electrically isolate the rods and valve gear on both sides from the wheels and chassis. (To be fair, it may be enough to isolate the rods and valve gear from the wheels.)

Now you could luck out and find replacement wheels which look right and which fit, saving the machining on the wheels and axles, but you'd still have the problems of isolating those axles from the frame and the drive gear from chassis. And you'll have to quarter the wheels so they don't jam up when you try to run the loco.

Yes, you can do this conversion but it will be an enormous and difficult task which might result in a locomotive which doesn't run all that well due to the extensive surgery and rebuilding.
                                                       --D

[Desertdweller]

Probably the most practical solution to your problem would be to find a DC locomotive of the same wheel arrangement and wheelbase, and substitute the entire chassis, wheels, and motor into your AC locomotive.

A lot of the more common German steam locomotives are available in two-rail DC.  Not a very cost-effective solution, and what you are apt to get for a donor locomotive may be the same prototype as your AC locomotive.

Les

[Joe Satnik]

Hi, EJ.

Charlie at Model Train Classics in western Wisconsin can give you some advice. 

715-838-8858  Tu-Sat Noon-5p

http://www.modeltrainclassics.com/

I think he stocks Marklin track. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik