So in order to avoid finishing existing projects I keep coming up with new ones. I just picked up another old lionel Atlantic and I want to make it into something different. I have two Lionel Atlantics converted to consols using Aristo Mikado drives. But I’ve been thinking about the PRR/LIRR G5. It’s perfect for our “branch line” layout. THe PRR made a bunch of them in the mid 1920s, for use in mostly commuter service. They had basically the same boiler as the PRR E6 Atlantic, but they had 68 inch drivers instead of the 80 inch drivers on the Atlantic. So what drive block to use. Two choices spring to mind right away. The Bachmann 4-6-0, and the Aristo pacific The Bachmann mechanism is easy to find but the drivers are a bit too small at two inches, and spacing is equal, while the rear driver on the G5 was set back. It would be hard for me to fix that The aristo pacific drivers are a bit two big at 2.5 inches (2.3 would be about right). But it would not be hard to fix the wheel spacing, since Aristo’s drive blocks are “modular.” The real problem is the Aristo drive blocks are impossible to find at the moment. I’m not ready to drop $400+ on a new Pacific just to get the drive block. Alos it may be the drivers are just too big to look right I thought about finding a two wheel drive block and adding a nonpowered trailing third wheel. But nobody seems to make a block with appropriate wheel spacing and driver size. Any suggestions? Below is a photoshop mockup of a lionel atlantic with a modified Pacific block under it. I’d want to make a new cab, new siderods and new valve gear
