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So this thing has been floating around my brain for awhile now and I'd like to get some closure. I was wondering if I could put a Lionel postwar Hudson pilot truck on say a Lionel 675 2-6-2 to make it a Pennsylvania K4? or maybe make a 4-8-2 or 4-8-4 out of a 726 berk? (mainly for a "what if" post war DL&W lineup)  Thanks!

 

Mason 

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Hm.  @Chuck Sartor is pretty much an expert on these things.  But I think the 4-wheel front truck you need is the one Lionel Fundimensions used on Great Northern #3100 in the FARR set, circa 1981.  This is a very short wheelbase front truck that, as far as I know was only used on that loco.

I've personally never seen a 2046-style front truck fitted to the Berkshre.  Not saying that it's impossible, but I wonder how it would affect the minimum diameter for operation.  Lionel Fundimensions had the 2046-style truck available from the Blue Comet, Crescent, etc.  When they wanted to make the green 4-8-4, they must have had a good reason for making something brand new that never existed in the Postwar era.

Dave Funk posted:

You can use the small pilot wheel set as described above.

I added one to a 675 years ago ,You may need to remove a little metal under

pilot/steam chest area for O31 operation ,O42 and above no problems.

It greatly improves the looks of the classic 675!!

alrighty, so upon checking the wonderful world of eBay I can't seem to find any lead trucks from that specific model. I thought that I'd just buy one from a guy selling it for parts... I did however find a listing for a hudson pilot truck, since you did say that you modified a 675 of your own I'll just let you tell me if it'd work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lione...3:g:HGYAAOSwLUtZ0rzn

Ah, a budding scratch basher. I applaud you. And, as for finding those parts (you will), you may find needed things in an economical e-Bay "grab bag" offering. This will give you unneeded parts in search of a project, projects which you will find or which will find you...which will call for more parts. Ask me how I know.

BTW - on the PRR "PW K4" project (never did it; I moved out of PW long ago), don't forget that the engine comes with a very un-PRR pilot (in fact, it's NYC-ish, if anything) that will need a little fiddling.

And off you go. Probably the best fun to be had in this hobby - at least it is to me. I'm always assaulting something; I've heard that some guys actually operate their layouts. Weird.  

I still haven't worked on my 1668 as yet to add the four wheel pilot truck. I was thinking of redrilling the truck frame to shorten the wheel base of the truck and see if that would help clear things without taking so much stock from the casting. You'd have to drill another hole for the screw swivel as well.

I still think my original (@ six years old) 1940s basic 2-4-2 Columbia is one of the "prettiest" and well proportioned Lionel ever put out. But as soon as I was old enough to know that the wheel arrangement wasn't "right" for most American locos, it lost some of its appeal. Too bad we couldn't have grown up with Atlantics instead for the basic sets...

As far as the 675 pilot is concerned, I've got a spare front casting that I'm going to fill in with liquid metal and see if I can't get it more like the "solid" PRR pilot. That may be a winter project. Or you could use thin brass strips to make the horizontal PRR pilot after perhaps filling in the vertical spaces on the original one with the liquid metal. 

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