I have 2 of the model power C420s one is fully functional and is actually a pretty decent little engine for the cost, but got damaged when my father shipped it out to me. The other is in pristine condition on the exterior, but at some time in the past I pulled the motor out so now its sort of unpowered. These units had only one driving truck. They did pretty well given that only one truck was powered. At any rate, I'm considering repowering the motorless unit with a can motor and adding a flywheel. I'm wondering though, should I 1: Kitbash the two units using both powered trucks in one and making the other a dummy? This would require making all new frames for both which I'm not daunted by in particular, but is more work. OR, 2: Leave both as one truck units and just upgrade the motor? Oh and replacing them with more expensive "better" engines isn't a option.
How about another option? A couple of years back, MR (I think it was) converted some C420s by using the frames, trucks, motors etc from Atlas U25Bs. The article on how to convert them was part of a series of articles on a prototype model railroad they were building. Just a thought.
Depends on how easy the U25 Parts are to come by and how expensive they would be. In terms of the actual conversion. that sounds pretty convienent.
