PCC Boston T Riverside greenline street car

Hope I picked the right forum for this. My apologies if not.

Some time in the near future I'd like to rapid prototype a PCC Boston T Riverside greenline street car that I road a million times as a kid before they were taken off line (early 80's if I remember correctly). I made an ebay $39 dollar experiment with a Z1gauge 485 series powered Japanese commuter train. Truck sizes were all off and even if I powered just one truck (which worked fine with proper weight redistribution), there is no way to shorten the drive shaft enough to fit the motor between the tucks and not have the CV joints lock up. Angling the motor to clear the potential non-powered truck would not work either as it would make the overall height way to tall for the PCC. But it is a really nice set considering it only cost $39....

My second thought is if there is a Marklin locomotive that might have the right dimensions. In a prefect world, I'm looking for drive wheels that are spread 8.31 mm (0.327 in) apart or less (1.00 mm more at the very most) and trucks that are center to center 31.51 mm (1.240 in) apart. less is better then more on that dimension as I don't mind only powering just one truck and stretching the chassis. But the hardest dimension to fit will be a overall motor height that cant be higher then 13.5 mm (0.531 in)off the track.

I have yet to find detailed description of Marklin Z scale chassis with specific dimensions and there are no dealers that are even in driving distance of me. So does anyone know where I might access such info or if they know of a specific Marklin locomotive that fits into dimensions mentioned above? It would have to be very close to my desired dimensions as I don't think I'll find a $50 experiment Marklin locomotive anything in any gauge on ebay...

Many thanks,

-Jon Pope

I have used the 485 to power several projects. If you cu the drive shaft at center then insert it into plastic or copper tubing using ACC or thread lock both seem to work to hold drive shaft in the copper tube, in the case of plastic tubing I Pressed it into the tube, after reaming it out a bit with a reamer which tapered the opening then sanded lightly the end of the Real ZJ 485 motor shaft and press fit with thread lock. I have lengthened the drive shafts also to power the Hallmark M10000.
regards Garth

Thank you Garth for your response!

The problem with using the 485 is that the PCC has a super short wheel base and a relatively low profile overall hight. I did some calculations and even if I took as much off the CV joint on both its ends and mounted the CV joint all the way to the base of the motor shaft and shortened the drive shaft as short as it can go while still allowing the trucks to articulate without binding up the CV joints, the motor would still have to sit over the articulation pivot of the non powered truck. The problem with that is the proportion of the truck frame height with the height of the motor added together blows away my overall height of the PCC car and then some. And unfortunately that does not even include some kind of bolster pin mount that would add even more to the height.

But I do really like the 485 for the ridiculously low price and I see all kinds of possibilities so I'm thinking of picking up one or two more before the disappear for good (I was told they are no longer made). I was thinking of maybe even rapid prototyping my own B&M Bud liner, it would work great for that.... But as a prime mover, I don't know how well or how many cars it would pull....

Thanks again,

-Jon