Sn3

I have a Sn3 PFM consolidation with a micro moter and a free wheeling gear box which in which the drivers will free wheel without the tender when pulled by another locomotive. 

It gets looks when I push it back on the tender, pull the other locomotive away and then pull the consolidation away under its own power.

It can be done, but I don't know what is available for n scale.  Pulling the gears out will make the unit a dummy, but it won't be able to pull anything by itself.

Terry

Yes, it should work well.

If your loco wheel bearings/bushings, drive rods, etc... are clean and lubed the loco should move easily when pushed by a motorized tender. 

Tyco made one (HO scale) many, many years back that was tender driven.  I still have one.  I believe it was, originally, a Consolidation but is now a Mikado (2-8-2) and was called the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  It now sports the Canadian National Railways (CNR) herald.  I changed it 20+ years ago.

Be certain to have your tender and locomotive picking up power on both rails.  Otherwise it may stall in the turnouts and on the smallest bit of dirt on your tracks.  And, don't forget that since the tender will be pushing the locomotive, make sure the leading wheels on the locomotive are moving smoothly into the turnouts. (the leading bogie wheels are spring loaded - you don't want them to bind and derail or short out the whole works)

Also, be aware that a motorized tender may run quite a bit faster than the loco would with it's own motor.  Be careful on the curves.

Best of luck with your conversion to tender driven.

G.T.

Thanks both!

This is long distance planning, but will be on the agenda after I get some scratch-building under my belt.

See the UK N scale modellers

Dear Irish,

Strongly suggest hooking up with the UK N scalers, particularly over on RMWeb. Many UK N scale locos (and some OO ones) have been using powered-tenders and freewheeling locos for _decades_, as their tiny weeny prototype loco form-factors simply couldn't accomodate an electric motor. (This is also one reason cited for "OO" being popular, as opposed to "HO", it gives that little-bit of extra space inside the shells, which can make the difference between _just_ fitting, or _not_fitting_ a motor in a given model).

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Teeny Weeny ???? Pfffffpt!

7:8 is the HO:00 scale ratio.  And about the same ratio of US to Uk prototypes.

What would you rather have? A 1975 Cadillac Eldorado or a 1975 Aston, Mercedes or BMW???

Dear Andy, Neither the Cady

Dear Andy,

Neither the Cady or the Euro offerings suit my personal taste,
(I could never pass myself off as "Bond, James", no matter how comfy I feel in an Aston ),

but IIRC even an early US SG 4-4-0 still dwarfs a GER T-series 2-4-0... 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

My rule

When I build a locomotive chassis (kit, from scratch, tune a commercial chassis, or any combination of the above) my test is to remove the motor and couple the otherwise complete chassis to a powered locomotive and run it around the layout.  If the wheels bind anywhere, there's still work to do.  EVERY locomotive, powered or not, should be able to pass that test.

I'm also contemplating some powered tenders for a variety of small HO locomotives.  While not common or popular in the US, they're normal in other parts of the world and a practical solution in some cases.  For HOn30, you can probably find an N scale diesel mechanism which will power a tender very nicely.