Anyone here remember GSB Ltd trucks?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Back in the early 1980s, GSB Rail Ltd came out with fully-sprung four-wheel Commonwealth passenger car trucks. I bought a pair to try them out, and remember being very impressed. They rolled more freely than any HO scale trucks I’d seen before, and the spring action was awesome. Unfortunately, I only ever bought the one pair, and they got broken in an HO scale train wreck about a year later. GSB’s on-again, off-again attempts to bring an SD40-2 to market ultimately led to their demise, and that was the end of the GSB sprung truck.

I’ve returned to the hobby after a long absence, and am building a Seaboard Coast Line passenger car fleet. I’ve managed to locate some original GSB trucks, though I haven’t taken the leap and purchased them yet. I’m seriously considering equipping my lightweight car fleet with as many GSB trucks as I can find, but some are trying to talk me out of it, arguing that I should go with newer super-detailed trucks rather than succumb to the “wow” factor of those fully-sprung 1980s dinosaurs.

Does anyone else on this board remember those GSB trucks, and if so, what was your experience with them - positive or negative? Does anyone still have passenger cars equipped with them, and if so, how have they held up?

And why, I wonder, has no one else made a foray into such realistically sprung trucks? Surely, if GSB could do it with 1980s technology, today’s technological advances should make it easier.

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I remember them quite well and equiped a whole train with them - BIG MISTAKE. While they look great, their all metal costruction and high number of moving parts made them very prone to short out. I tried repacing the wheel sets with Kadee wheel sets but that was problematic as well. Difficult removing the old and installing the new without damage to the trucks or the new wheelsets.

For years now IHC has been selling a product very similar to the GSB product. Only problem its not much better in the short circuit department. I tested several sets of them and gave up on them as well.

Recent production Walthers or old plastic ones from MDC with Intermountain wheelsets have been my Commonwealth truck of choice for good operation.

I like good detail, and was once very picky about it, today I am more interested in reliable operation first, detail second.

Sheldon