A few months ago I decided to go nuts and spend over $100 to find out if the ARU Model A4010 0-6-0 Steam chassis was a viable replacement option for the vintage Minitrains 0-4-0T.
It is.
The attached photos are from the test fitting. The chassis is just small enough to disappear inside. All it will take to make this a perfect match will be a spacer to raise the shell about half a millimeter (I think I will use a lead weight for this; it will improve traction and double as the spacer).
While some Japanese steam engines ship with a 3v motor, the Model A4010 has either a 9v or 12v motor. This means you don’t have to rewire so it can run on standard DC.
It was a little noisy, but this loco creeped along nicely at 11% power.
FYI: I imported the ARU Model A4010 from Plaza Japan (link to buy). I buy my Kato chassis from them, and also the occasional Tomytec train set, and I cannot recommend them enough.
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