I have been out of this for several years and just received my 2014 Walthers catalog and was shocked to see a lot of stuff missing that I thought would still be around. I need some trucks and or wheelsets to upgrade some old Varney cars and thought I would use Central Valley - only they aren’t listed!
What is everybody using?
Jim,
Central Valley trucks have not been around for maybe 20 years. Most folks use Intermountain(I-M), Walthers Proto 2000(P2K), Kadee or Reboxx wheel sets. You are going to have to measure the length of the old Varney wheel sets. If they match the I-M or P2K sets, you are good to go. Reboxx sells wheels with different axle lengths if needed.
If you decide on a complete truck replacement, Walthers, Accurail, and Kadee offer replacement trucks. I use a lot of Accurail truck side frames with I-M metal wheel sets.
Jim
Thank you so much…I’ll look at your suggestions…
You might also want to look into trucks by Tahoe Model Works…they are local to me. Anyway, I’ve seen samples of them and how well they perform…impressive. And they are not terribly expensive. Most of the truck types are pre-roller bearing.
Mark H
I’ve been buying bulk-packs of Intermountain wheelsets, 100 axles to the box, mostly on eBay. That seems to be the most economical way to get the wheelsets. Mostly, I just replace the wheels, but I have some old cars with beat-up trucks that need complete replacement, and a number of old Tyco/Mantuas with metal trucks which don’t lend themselves to easy wheel replacement. I’ve ordered a batch of Tichy plastic trucks, which should be at my LHS today.
Watch the Walthers sale flyer, or check online every month. They do occasionally have specials on trucks with metal wheelsets.
As long as I’ve got them off the cars and taken apart, I give them the deluxe treatment. First, I mask the axle bearings and bolster bearing with bits of blue painters’ tape, Next, a quick spray of rust-brown primer. Once that’s dry, I use rust and black weathering powder, and a quick shot of Dull-Coat to seal it. Finally, I remove the tape and clean out the axle bearings with a Micro-Mark Truck Tuner before inserting the new wheels.
You may not want that much effort, but I would heartily recommend getting and using the Truck Tuner. Also, the Tuner is a very small tool, so make a special place for it so you’ll always know where to find it.
Tichy Train Group also makes trucks:
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/trucks/Default.aspx
Thank you all for the tips…
From my experience, Varney trucks don’t like the newer wheels a whole lot since they used a cheaper blunt tip axle design instead of needle-point. They’ll work, but the improvement will be minimal. For best results, I’d replace the entire truck. For value and free rolling, I like Athearn trucks with metal wheels the best, and Atlas is also excellent. After replacing the trucks, my Varney cars go from stiff rolling to free, unstoppable coasting!
There are options and alternatives for freight car trucks to be sure, but there are Central Valley passenger car trucks that seem to have a sort of permanent market at swap meets at high prices, evidently because that need is not being otherwise met. CV was a quality line. I wonder who ended up with the tooling?
Dave Nelson
I dont know how accurate this is -but I was told by a dealer at the Timonium Maryland Train Show that the CV retained the tooling. The tooling was reportedly shot and even though they were “refurbished” -the new trucks that came from them were not up to the old standards -so they did not continue making the trucks.
If your Varney cars are old enough, they’ll likely have sprung trucks made of metal - probably not a good match for most current-day wheelsets, which have needlepoint axles.
All of the trucks mentioned are suitable replacements, along with ones from Accurail. The advantage of the Accurail trucks is that they can be bought without wheelsets (if you prefer metal wheels), allowing you to select that which you feel would work best. Accurail’s Andrews trucks are as nice as anybody’s, including those from Tahoe.
This car has Accurail trucks (I prefer plastic wheels - less noise and less obtrusive):
…and this one Tahoe:
Wayne
I’ve just ordered another pack of 20 trucks from Tichy. They come with a bag of plastic wheels. At $15, that comes out to 75 cents a truck. I add Intermountain metal wheelsets bought online in bulk. It comes out to about $4 a car, total.
And don’t forget that MicroMark truck tuner!
I have a truck mounting question. I have some old Ulrich metal hoppers from the 1940s-50s, and the trucks screw into a sort of plastic bushing that fits in a larger hole in the metal underframe. These bushings (not sure if that is the right term) have crumbled to bits, and I can’t find anything in any shops or catalogs to replace them. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Evergreen has plastic rod and tubing in various sizes, or, if you have some suitably-sized sprue laying around, use that.
What works well is a piece slightly larger in diameter than the hole which needs filling - about .004"-.007". Coat it with solvent-type cement, let it sit for 10 or 15 seconds, then re-coat it and, after about 5 seconds, force it into the hole in the underframe. Allow the plastic to re-harden, probably an hour at least, then trim off any protruding excess. Use a pin vise and bit of appropriate size to drill for the new screws.
And you’re correct: these were bushings to insulate the trucks, which were metal, to prevent shorts. Even if you’re using plastic trucks, they’ll need to be replaced to allow use of screws for truck attachment.
If you’re re-using the metal trucks, use Kadee fibre washers to enlarge the area of insulation.
Wayne
If you have issues w/ finding the sized plastic rod as Wayne mentions, a more convienent method is the “stretched sprue”. use a slightly larger sprue, heat and allow to stretch to a slight taper. Cut off and size to glue into and enlarged hole. Many times i like to use a kadee sprue of the enginneeering plastic. It seems to drill out and tap far better for the 2/56 screw. you will generally need to use a bottoming 2/56 tap, depending on the hole depth.
There has been a lot of change in the hobby, especially with regard to many of the products offered in the 90’s and older. That said, there have been a lot of new and exciting products on the market as well, so hopefully that should be a pleasant surprise to molify the shock. As others have noted there are lots of options for trucks and wheel sets out on the market!