colorado hirailer posted:I have long wanted a three rail below floor power truck, with adjustable wheelbase, and interchangeable sideframes, needed for an assortment of gas electrics, railbuses, and even geared locomotives. That ain't rocket science....somebody tool this up!
You are correct that this is not "rocket science"; however ,it probably has not been done since those that could do it do not believe that there is adequate market numbers to support such an endeavor.
Couple this with the incessant requirement that the price be "reasonable" (read "cheap") and you can pretty much assure that this will not happen any time soon.
There are the Magic Carpet drives and then there are the drives from Q-car - 2-rail - not cheap and therefore grades as unreasonable. Their prices are what they are due to market numbers and in the case of the latter literally being built to order. Clearly the demand even for those is such to only support a single source built to order operation.
Suggest that you find a way to purchase (read "liberate") the stock and dies of Current Lines and go into business yourself. Tooling up sideframe dies alone will otherwise make this completely unapproachable - consider the limited number of currently available truck sideframes in O scale vs. HO (for example). One has to have the numbers.
However, I see no reason why one could not buy Magic Carpet drives, replace the wheelsets, and build your own power trucks into existing trucks. One may have to modify the truck framing, but that should not deter one from proceeding. Years ago I put a LWS drive into an Archbar truck for use in a doodlebug that I bashed out of a old combine. If you are going to wait around for some company to do it for you, you might as well sell off your trains and take up philately
