Hi all I’m still in the planning stage of my big layout in my basement. So I managed to buy a big lot of locos rolling stock and accesories my thing will be 3 rail and in the buy we’re some post and pre war stoke some quite rare. i also bought quite a lot of 2 rail locos again nice stuff. Been buying 3 rail track and honastly I prefare the simplicity of 3 rail so my question is we’re can I buy the kits from 2 to 3 I’ve made the desigion to convert all my two rail. There are the purists that will say don’t do it but I’ve never been a mint in box type my stuff will run well and get shown to would be train youths.
Dublo 2 to 3 rail conversion
- Thread starter SnooksBoy
- Start date
Dunalastair
Member
Hi. The easiest Dublo locomotives to convert to 3 rail are the Duchess, A4, West Country, 0-6-2T and diesel shunter. They were produced for both 2 and 3 rail and the chassis is the same for both, so the mounting points for the 3 rail pickup are there waiting to be used. You will have to uninsulate the wheels and reverse the magnet for them to run properly. Standard Dublo 3 rail pickups are quite commonly available on eBay.
The Castle and 2-8-0 are easy to convert too, but use a design of plunger pickup in the tender, which is almost impossible to find and is fixed so firmly in place that the only real option is to locate a 3 rail tender chassis and swap it over. Replica plunger pickups were once available, but I haven't seen any around for a few years now.
The 3 rail Bo-Bo uses plunger pickups too, but mounted on the bogies.
The 3 rail Co-Bo has a pickup similar to the standard one and might be near impossible to find. I don't know if you could adapt a standard one.
The 3 rail Co-Co uses a split version of the standard pickup, which is almost impossible to find. Replica pickups were once available but, once again, I haven't seen any around for a few years.
The 0-6-0T and starter set locos were only made in 2 rail, so you might have to be a bit creative.
That said, everything is doable. I have 3 railed a number of Tri-ang locos using Marklin skates.
Check out this website: https://www.dublorunner.com/2012/06/pick-ups-for-3-rail-conversions/
The Castle and 2-8-0 are easy to convert too, but use a design of plunger pickup in the tender, which is almost impossible to find and is fixed so firmly in place that the only real option is to locate a 3 rail tender chassis and swap it over. Replica plunger pickups were once available, but I haven't seen any around for a few years now.
The 3 rail Bo-Bo uses plunger pickups too, but mounted on the bogies.
The 3 rail Co-Bo has a pickup similar to the standard one and might be near impossible to find. I don't know if you could adapt a standard one.
The 3 rail Co-Co uses a split version of the standard pickup, which is almost impossible to find. Replica pickups were once available but, once again, I haven't seen any around for a few years.
The 0-6-0T and starter set locos were only made in 2 rail, so you might have to be a bit creative.
That said, everything is doable. I have 3 railed a number of Tri-ang locos using Marklin skates.
Check out this website: https://www.dublorunner.com/2012/06/pick-ups-for-3-rail-conversions/
