MTL trucks on Marklin passenger cars

Heay Equipment Designer Mar 21, 2020

  1. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    While back I won 17 Marklin AMTRAK cars on Ebay for less than $4 each. Catch was none of them had wheel sets or trucks.... I like their American prototype smooth sided passenger cars but never liked their trucks, oversize out of scale wheel sets and the worst looking couplers in all of Z scale. So I was keen to make MTL trucks work with Marklin passenger cars.

    I came up with a kit that allowed me to mass produce the conversion and tried it on the 5 different AMTRAK cars Marklin offers. Did not bother with the dome car as not impressed with Marklin's version of the glass canopy (will be selling those on Ebay....). Really happy with the results. Much closer coupling than both MTL and Marklin. I have no AZL smooth side passenger cars so I dont know if its closer than AZL or not. But this is the closest I could make it and still have the cars work on 170 mm radius curves.

    DSC_0545.jpg




    I painted one set of trucks silver. I really like it better than black. Definitely going to paint the rest of the trucks silver.

    DSC_0529.jpg



    This conversion plays nice with MTL passenger cars. MTL car roofs and doors are higher. But I think you could use the Marklin baggage car with MTL cars. Otherwise couplers line up perfectly. You cant shunt MTL cars or any other coupler setup with my coupler setup.

    DSC_0554.jpg




    Ride height is the same with the MTL trucks as it is with the Marklin trucks. Looks so much better without the huge Marklin couplers.

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    Conversion requires voiding the warranty and then some.... First start by drilling out the Marklin bolster mount. Then file the end down flat to the carbody chassis to allow clearance for the higher mounted MTL couplers.

    DSC03955.jpg





    I created a new bolster mount that fits inside. This allows for consistent truck mount position on all converted Marklin passenger cars. Dremel tool makes quick work to enlarge the hole to allow clearance for the new bolster mount before its installed.

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    I created a mount so that MTL coupler 901 coupler conversion kit could be used. MTL coupler mount chassis on the MTL truck has to be cut back before mounting new coupler assembly.

    DSC03968-Recovered.jpg





    You cant see the new coupler mount when mounted to the Marklin passenger cars. So no painting is required. I dont know what Marklin trucks are modeled after but I dont think it is from any specific American railroad prototype. The huge wheel flanges on the Marklin wheel sets really dont help with making the already over sized wheels look any less over sized. I really think the MTL truck and couplers look a hell of a lot better than Marklin's.

    DSC_0568-Recovered.jpg





    I set up a test track in my small home office to put the car conversion thru its passes. I made 170 mm chicane. Something I would never do on my layout but figured it would be the most extreme condition I can put the cars in. The trucks and couplers performed flawlessly! I ran it for hours without issues. Video shows my test results.




    I'm so happy with this conversion that I will be converting the rest of my AMTRAK cars and all my PRR Marklin passenger cars with this kit. It improves the Marklin cars in every way from looks to handling. Even with plastic wheels, the MTL trucks roll tremendously better than Marklin trucks with Marklin metal wheels.

    Not sure I'll bother offering a kit. I needed a kit because I had not trucks. But not sure if folks would want to go thru all of this to convert cars that already work.

    Thanks,

    -Jon
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2020
    gmorider, zdrada69, Mo-Pac and 5 others like this.
  2. bostonjim

    bostonjim TrainBoard Member

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  3. husafreak

    husafreak TrainBoard Member

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    Do those MTL trucks have the plastic MTL wheels?
     
  4. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, 36" wheel sets but you can put metal ones on if you can find them. I have both right now. Forgot I had and found a set of 12 Fox valley 36" wheels for passenger cars I had bought a long time ago. They do roll nice. MTL plastic wheels still roll nice too. Marklin trucks and metal wheel sets might have worked well when new. But on these probably 20+ year old AMTRAK cars roll like crap...
     
  5. SJ Z-man

    SJ Z-man TrainBoard Member

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    Great conversion but hallowing out the bottoms, reworking the couplers, .... not enough for me now that I am not really running the doubled-up Santa Fe set at shows. Got them back in 2005 and ran them with the marklin "F7" DCC'd A-B-B-A for some years. (U tube: ) was about the last time I pulled the sets out ;(
    Lots of new stuff now ;)

    Excellent determination though. I understand making things just right because they are just wrong (like the F7’s giganto leaf spring trucks :) and the märklin caboose.
     
  6. Commodore

    Commodore TrainBoard Member

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    Jon-
    I like the conversation.
    Rather than PM, I'll ask publicly.

    What order size do you need to go into production?

    At two per car, I can order a few dozen.

    Rory
     
  7. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    Hi Rory, no worries, I'll post the set I have now as soon as I make instructions on how to make the conversion so I can post it with the kit. The current version I have now will do 12 complete passenger cars. I'll probably also put up a kit for 6 complete cars as someone on Facebook requested I do a kit but they did not need it for 12 cars. I realize a lot of Marklin sets come in 5 passenger cars but I know a few that have 6 cars. So that should cover all sets.

    Thanks,

    -Jon
     
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  8. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    Finally got all the parts I needed to finish the Amtrak Marklin fleet. Ended up painting all the trucks silver. Really like how they look as the silver really shows off the truck details.

    DSC04126.JPG

    I replaced all the MTL wheels with Fox Valley 36" wheelsets. Few wobbly trucks. I suspect its paint on the inside that I will have to remove. Regardless it still ran well with no issues including thru the 170mm S curves even with the wobbly cars.



    While the conversion is a bit of work. I do think its a big improvement on Marklin's stock car. Conversion costs about $10 a car (not including metal wheelsets). Not as nice as AZL's smooth side cars but still a hell of a lot cheaper for each car if you get your Marklin cars at a decent price on Ebay.

    I did make a kit for 6 cars and 12. You can find the links to my store on the Trainboard swap meet here: https://www.trainboard.com/highball...ssenger-car-mtl-truck-conversion-kits.131458/
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2020
  9. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    Verry interresting. Thank you for the tips. ;)

    Dom
     
  10. gmorider

    gmorider TrainBoard Member

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    Jeepers! :cool:
     
  11. gmorider

    gmorider TrainBoard Member

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    Heavy Equipment Designer: I think the converted car is a "squig" lower than the regular Marklin car...:sneaky:
     
  12. JoeS

    JoeS TrainBoard Member

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    It looks really good and it truely is amazing how a those trucks change the entire look of the set. Great work!
     
  13. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Joe. I did have to void the warranty a bit on the Marklin cars and MTL trucks. But I really hated the Marklin trucks and couplers. MTL trucks really do have nice detail.
     
  14. Heay Equipment Designer

    Heay Equipment Designer TrainBoard Member

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    The wheelsets on the Marklin trucks are huge! Going down to 36" helped a lot as the trucks could be mounted closer to the chassis. I also made the bolster mount about .2 mm off the chassis.
     
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