You’ve Got To Be Kidding!

No, I'm not kidding you, no, it's not a joke, and no, it's not SFX!  It really is a 3-rail locomotive running on 2-rail track! 🙂 MTH incorporates into some of their later models a feature called ProtoScale 3-2 which enables you to run 3-rail trains on 2-rail track as well as 2-rail trains on 3-rail track, using either AC or DC power.  My MTH Premier Pennsylvania RR J1 Texas (2-10-4) steam locomotive is equipped with this feature so I tried it out on some 2-rail track that I usually use just for display.  I took off the pickup rollers (1 screw each), threw one switch under a tender hatch, and put the J1 on the 2-rail track.  I powered the track via jumpers from the adjacent 3-rail loop so that I would have it under full DCS control (plus, I don't have a DC power source so this was done with standard AC power).  The following True HD 1080p video shows that the 3-rail model works quite well on 2-rail track!