Limited Access

Dear Mead,

Last reports I was aware of (early 2021) indicated Terry was quite ill (not CV19),
you may find contacting him quite challenging at this time.

Is there any specific questions or projects that the Regular Suspects here on MRH might be able to help with?

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Contact

Last I knew he moved the Kingsport, TN area and was getting rid of his O-scale layout due to his health problems. I can try and contact him on your behalf, but I think there are other options that would be better for you.

Contact a 2R O-scale club such as my club the Baltimore Society of Model Engineers, or the New York Society of Model Engineers, to help locate a person with experience of 3-Rail to 2-Rail conversion. For a listing of 2R O-scale clubs by state see:  https://oscaleinfo.com/WP/clubs-and-organizations/

There is an active facebook group as well and the parent organization of O-scale is O-scale Kings:  https://oscalekings.org/WP/, they even have a sample article covernting an Lionel reefer to 2-Rail:  https://oscalekings.org/WP/3-rail-2-rail-conversions/

Terry - 3R-2R O steam conversion

I am attempting to convert several 3R O-scale locomotives (Lionel Vision line and MTH Premier) to 2R.  I have been told by numerous folks on the OGR Forum that the gents that did this expertly, no longer do this work.  I have also been informed that there are no sources for obtaining scale driver wheels as replacements for O-scale steam locomotives.

On top of those brick walls, I was seriously considering converting all of the locos to DCC, thus going from 3 different control system down to 1 and running everything off DCC to conform the branch lines (On30) I am planning.  No sense doing that if I can't get rid of the cartoon wheels from the locomotives and convert the units to 2R.

I was hoping that Terry could delve his vast network of gentlemen and possibly provide me a contact of someone who can do this work.  

I was also down to thinking of purchasing one of the mini-lathes that micro-mark sells and trying to do the work myself.

O steam driving wheels

In the UK O scale driving wheels are widely available. You will need to count your spokes and select a suitable wheel as they are (naturally) labelled for UK prototypes. A good supplier is  Slaters but there are others

Thank you very much. I will

Thank you very much.

I will certainly check those out.  It would be great if they had them.  Save me the cost of a lathe.

Contact

I'm pretty sure I know a guy who has the same access to Terry's network, and will ask him if he knows if there is still someone doing those conversions. Didn't realize why you wanted to reach out to Terry, would have mentioned this earlier.

One of the people who used to do the work did/does belong to our club, but his health is failing as well and I know stopped doing that work a few years ago.

"Save me the cost of a lathe."

  Not just the cost of the lathe. You also need tooling and many hours of learning to do the job. You'd likely spend most of your modeling time practicing machining. I tried it when I thought about turning all my O scale stuff into P48 but after a while decided it was too much work. Given the large selection of available 2 rail O equipment I'd suggest just selling the 3 rail stuff and buying 2 rail stuff. I certainly go with DCC for ) 2 rail.   I decided to down size and switch from O to S scale after working with P48 for a while. ....DaveB

Thanks much Jim

Thanks Jim.

I only want to invest in track once and I would like that track to be scale track not 3R high rail.  Thanks much.

I am in no hurry to finish the conversions, I am still working in the Caribbean on power plants. I am usually home 2 months per year so I am happy to send the locos out when I get home in mid-December this year and no rush for completion.  I will probably be in the South Pacific next year so getting home is a bit more involved.  Would like to at least send them out before March 2022 when I leave home for my next project.

Thanks once again.

Contact 3R to 2R conversions

Jim,

Any luck with a contact for someone still around doing the 3R to 2R conversions?

Thanks again.  Truly appreciated.

re: Contact 3R to 2R conversions

Haven't gotten anything specific, my friend thinks there are/were someone in California and Missouri, but needed to lookup the names. I'll see him this weekend at the train show so will talk with him again and see if found the names.

Where abouts are you located?

3 rail to 2 rail

You might try rod miller dot com, he used to do this stuff back when i was modeling in O scale. He's moving to Oregon so might take a while to get set up for work again....DaveB

Home is Eastern Tennessee

My home is nearest to Athens, TN about the mid-point between Knoxville and Chattanooga. 

I spend most of my time working in both the Caribbean and sometimes the South Pacific Islands.  I develop and oversee the construction of renewable energy projects on these islands.

I am usually home 2 to 2-1/2 months per year.  I bought my farm/timber land for retirement.  Hopefully it will be paid off by the time I am done.

My short periods home each year opens a small window to get a spot in line and get the locomotive(s) sent to them.  Once they have them, no hurry.  Just need to coordinate the first part closely.

Thanks once again.

A couple leads

I checked with a couple guys, one mentioned Rod Miller as well, he is in California and moving to Oregon over time so he works less on conversions.

Nick Bulgarino of O-scale kings mentioned he was doing 3-rail to 2-rail conversions, but had another person doing the locomotive wheels for him, don't recall who though, but they were located in a state near you, maybe Kentucky.

I would contact Nick at:  Nicholas Bulgarino – O-scale Kings Secretary
Email: secretary@oscalekings.org

You can mention my name Jim Berg, don't know if it will get you any more response or not though.

Thank you very much for the contacts

I will certainly contact these gents.

Much appreciated.

Joe Foehrkolb

was doing 3 to 2 rail conversions through his business Baldwin Forge & Machine, but he may have retired. Here is a Slideplayer collection of some projects. https://slideplayer.com/slide/4536727/

FW

re: Joe Foehrkolb

Yes he has retired, a couple years ago, the slideplayer presentation looks good and might give you ideas on how to do conversions yourself if you are so inclined.

EDIT: did a little digging and found out he ramped down his business starting in 2018. And found someone on OGR that knows Joe's process and is willing to share with those who have a lathe:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/baldwin-forge-and-machine

BTW: I personally didn't mention Joe before since I knew he was out of the business, but the slideplayer presentation is good reference material that I did not know Joe had done.

A suggestion

HI Meadmaker,

A suggestion - perhaps it might be a good idea to edit your first post and replace the title heading with something like "Who currently does O-scale 3R to 2R conversions?" rather than "Terry Terrence"?

It might generate a few more options for you that are currently doing this type of modelling work?