I have a small layout of a branchline c, 1945 Upstate New York and am at the point of turning a mixed bag of new and used freight cars into decent running stock. Can someone point me to a source (or summarize for me) which wheel sets I want (metal or plastic) and why?
If you go to the search function, just above your question and put in the word wheels you will get abbot 950+ pages of answers. Of course that won’t stop anyone from answering the question again for the 10,000 time.
And NO, it’s not a stupid question at all. Especially if you don’t know the answer. But that question is asked every week here in one form or the other, so I thought that I’d give you an opportunity to see how search works and get lots of good answers too.[:)]
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=replacement%20trucks&f=&u=
I typed “replacement trucks” in the search box at lower right of this screen, and I got this first page of many dealing with trucks. Wheels would get different results, but just as many from which you can chose the ones that seem closest to your query.
Good luck.
REAL RAILROADS haul goods - most of which are too heavy for commercial trucks - but not all.
‘RR TRUCKS’ are selected for weight distribution (and handling), such as ‘passenger’, or 70 ton, 100 ton, etc. (Passenger trucks also pay attention to ‘ride’ ).
MODEL TRUCKS’ main thrust is ‘simulation’ - if you will. Since model cars are mostly empty, more attention is paid to cost & looks than weight distribution. MOST freight models come with 33" wheels - regardless of what the prototype had.
Put another way, 50% of todays buyers are new and are less concerned with accuracy than CO$T - The ‘As long as it stays on the track’ types - or what would you rather call it?
(Purchasers of large, or articulated, locomotives whose main concern is minimum radii - generally 18" )-that they can run on).
Metal wheelsets almost always offer better rolling and tracking characteristics than plastic - they are also much more expensive. (Dont forget to check the gauge!)
The next concern is the design of the truck itself (archbar, etc…) the main concern being, was the type of truck you have in use during the period modeled. While ICC rules would restrict certain truck types from interchange traffic, non-interchange traffic might find older, supposedly obsolete, equip. still in use - especially on a shortline/branchline.
George
This is one that has a lot of opinions as there is no clear cut winner. First of all from your post I assume that we are talking HO scale. If so metal has the advantage of sounding more realistic at rail ends, adds an infitesimal amount of further mass low on the car and some claim doesn;t get as dirty as fast as plastic. Plastic on the other hand rolls pretty well if of higher quality and is cheaper. I personally would replace trucks on Bachman, AHM and some of the other cheaper brands but I find Athearn or MDC to be adequate for my purposes. There is also a little reamer you can buy that will ream the hole for the axle end perfectly. It is a hand tool that you place in the truck just like a wheel set and spin it. In either case don’t use oil for lube. use powdered graphite. I like the detail on Kadee wheels sets but there are others. I wire brush the treads to polish the area that contacts the rail using a wire wheel in a motor tool so the scratchs are with the direction of rolling and then paint the side of the wheel with either rail brown or rust or a combination of the two. Then make sure the axle is clean before inserting it. On freight cars definitely replace any that have truck mounted couplers with body mounted. If it is a decent truck just cut the coupler mounting area off of it but most of those are going to be poorer quality unless it is something like an Athearn 86’ high cube. Alos check your cars that have weights between the floor and the frame. most of them come sith some bend in them that can cause the couplers to hang down and trucks to not sit level. Placing the weight on a flat surface and pressing on it will straighten out about 99% of them.