Not sure, I've seen many with a front to back mounted motor powering all four axles each with a worm drive and also seen some with a vertical motor on one truck. Not sure I've seen one with chain drive although maybe on the single truck it would be used? I've got two I am piecing together from parts, but not a complete on just yet.
PS, The two rail scale guys will probably have some better insight on this since that was it's original market in the '40's and 50's.