Interesting - I¡¯ve been kicking that idea around for a while. The old 1900s collector toy trains are pricy items, but can I build something similar? Good question. Right now I¡¯m wondering if I can mill slots into the semi-solid barrel armature from a hysteresis motor. It has a laminated field frame, bearings and enough room to add a commutator. Almost done, hah!
chestofbooks.com has reprints of those old Popular Mechanics articles, including some motors. Here¡¯s one example:?
DW
Dave W