When I decide to purchase a new tinplate locomotive I always elect for the open frame traditional motor setup. I just like the simplicity of the mechanics that produce the motion to move train. There were a couple of times when purchasing a traditional version of something just wasn’t possible and I felt that I had to settle for a PS2 or PS 3 version of a locomotive that I wanted to add to my collection – namely my Brute.
Now before I’m dragged into the town square to be torched to death, I want to state that the Brute is a fantastic locomotive and, even though it’s cumbersome and certain aspects on a layout may need to be changed to accommodate its size and heft, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser and an attention getter. But I’m thinking about changing its Can Motors out for a more traditional Open Frame Motor and possibly add a third Open Frame Motor in the middle.
Looking through the archives there were some forum members who stated that if MTH made the Brute in a traditional version the problem would have been producing an E unit to hold up to the voltage/wattage that would have been needed to maintain/switching direction(s).
Is it possible to add some Open Frame Motors to the Brute and would motors from, let’s say, a 400E work?
