powered tender

[hindmarch]

Hi All,is there available a powered tender on your side of the pond, i have two steam locos which have the motor and drive train in the tender, replacement parts are not available here,the loco itself is in perfect condition it seems a shame not to be able to run them,they are approx build year 1950s,any help would be appreciated,Regards Bryan

[SteamGene]

IIRC, the Chattanogga Choo-Choo had a tender drive, as do several of the older smaller locos like the 4-4-0.  What kind of locos do you want to match to a powered tender?
Gene

[hotrainlover]

Bryan,
You need to contact Yampa Bob,(on this forum) and get his great conversion on using a  switcher to re-power the tender.

It is a reliable solution.

[Yampa Bob]

Bryan
I know you have at least one of the newer Bachmann American 4-4-0 with the motor in the tender.  Did you find some older ones that are inoperable?  Who made them?

If you can send me some closeup pictures of the tender motor and drive shaft, perhaps we can locate parts somewhere.  I know your abilities to repair just about anything.  However since the locos are over 40 years old, might be best to just use them for a static display. 

I've been meaning to write, I haven't done anything yet with the TT conversion, as I need to add about 3" to fit my Connie.  Regards.

HO,
Thanks for the kind comments. I sent the powered tender plans to Bryan earlier. My solution is for an "assist" tender.  The little American is different, the motor is in the tender, but the actual reduction and drive is in the loco via a drive shaft.  I call mine "Wild Thang", it goes like a bat at 1/2 throttle, and goes airborne at full.  I only bought it because it was half price. 

[Jim Banner]

On another thread, Woody Elmore posted a link to an Australian company that is making some very interesting drives.  I have copied Woody's link below.

http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/

An alternative would be North West Short Line at

http://www.nwsl.com/

A low cost possibility would be to use powered trucks from train set diesel locomotives and replace the side frames with the tender truck side frames. 

[Yampa Bob]

Without seeing Bryan's locomotives, I can't say for certain; but if they are like the little Americans, only the motor is in the tender, with a universal drive shaft to the locomotive drive system, which apparently is still in working order. 

On the site posted, they do offer many choices of small motors and universal joint assemblies.  The trick is getting the right size motor, coupler and shaft.

[hindmarch]

steam gene,my 2 lokos are--2-10-0 and 4-6-2 these lokos were built for service during ww2,the 4-6-2 tender is 3,74  long-1,37 wide and 1,96 high,this is a coal tender,the 2-10-0 tender is a oil tender and is 5,11 long width and hight are the same as the coal tender.I have made some photo,s and will send shortly.
Bob i have finished my turntable and it works ok,due to the length of the track it do,s not index the 15% to match the roundhouse so at the moment i have to content with one track to the r-house
Jim Hi,i have already contacted this company about their products and have ordered the uv joint kit shaft and shafts but it is a problem to find the correct motor,many thanks for your input, ithought to purchase a usra tender to modify but i will have to think about it,again thanks for the help.
Bob i did not contact you because i thought you were busy with the harvest,many regards Bryan

[hindmarch]

Hi its not 15% its 15 degrees ,SORRY

[Yampa Bob]

We only put up 150 ton this year, so it went pretty fast.

The sizes of your tenders would work fine for the power conversion info I sent. Just make the adapter plates to fit the boxes.  By mounting the shells loose, it would free up the chassis for other projects.

[hindmarch]

Yampa Bob, hi bob i had a computor crash and i cannot find the tender plans you sent me ,can you please send them again .Bryan

[Yampa Bob]

No problem, I will send them today.