What are the best narrow gauge archbar trucks out there? Accucraft? Berlyn? Othre?
Thanks in advance.
Charley
I have standardised on the Roundhouse RB2 bogie which I fit with Brandbright RSA30/0 wheels. Nice and heavy -but they roll very well.
regards
ralph
I’ve found the ones I build do much better than bought ones. The olny difficuilty is finding cast iron jurnal boxes (the olny way they don’t break) Plus you can add a motor and a cupple of gears to make a powered truck.
Well, this is where defining the “best” will probably be different based upon point of view.
I use the Aristocraft/Delton arch bar freight trucks, but replace the wheels with a set of 24" ones from Sierra Valley. They roll very nicely, and look decent. They scale out to about a 4’ wheel base in 1:20, making them a bit longer than the Accucraft ones. They have no brake detail.
In what arena are you looking to define “best?” Like Bruce, I’m a big fan of the Delton/Aristo-Craft Classics truck. It’s fairly well detailed, inexpensive, and rolls like a champ. Put metal wheels in it, and it’s even better.
The trucks under the new 1:20 Bachmann equipment are fantastic, but you’re not going to find them as separate items. Accucraft’s trucks are very well detailed, but they’re notorious for having issues with smooth rolling. Hartford makes a good truck, but again, it’s pricey. I’d sooner pay $45 for one of Bachmann’s new flat cars and just use the trucks than pay $45 for Hartford’s that I’d have to assemble. But all these trucks would clearly be “best” in terms of prototype fidelity.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a nice generic archbar truck, it’s going to be hard to beat the Delton/Aristo truck. I also use the Bachmann/LGB/USA Trains truck (they’re all virtually identical) for cars where I want a shorter wheelbase. Again, it’s a fairly generic truck that rolls rather well. Its only disadvantage is that it’s not equalized like the Delton/Aristo or more expensive trucks.
Later,
K
Bruce,
Is the boxcar pictured with the blue tinged parts equipped with the Aristo/delton truck that is discussed in this thread? Is the coupler height maintained?
Vince
For those of use who are reading this but cannot afford megabuck Accucraft or them other expensive trucksets, heres the heads up for us kibashin’ po’ folks…
LGB sells a replacement US profile archbar set #67402, I use B’manns small ore car wheelsets in them but they’ll take the larger dia wheels just as well, these are nice for building new rolling stock and not that hard to find. I paid $15 for a pair w/o wheels.
Can I get the Delton/AC trucks from a place like St. Aubin Station, or would I have to order them direct from AC?
Ridge Road has them in stock - http://tinyurl.com/2o73qe.
Another source is Northeast Narrow Gauge in Wiscasset, Maine. They sell various types of freight and passenger car trucks that have brass axle bushings and metal wheels. Some have metal side frames, some are plastic, and some are wood.
Their web site is http://www.nemodel.com
I made mine free from scraps of wood and metal, using Ted Stinson’s plans, which I modified, replacing nasty plastic with metal.
Which Stinson plans would that be?
Bill W