i got a pakage of kadee ajax brake wheels part number 2040, and they seam to me to way to small to be ho scale more like n scale, package says they are ho scale. So the question is are all of kadee brake wheels that small? I wanted something a little bigger.
I have a bunch of Kadee brake wheels of different types and they all look to me to be properly sized. They are all about 1/4" in diameter and the Ajax ones are almost exactly 1/4". N scale would be about 9/64" if my math is correct (don’t count on that!).
Dave
Will have to measure them when i get home. I have seen pictures of other brands that look bigger, so are those over sized? or did brake wheels come in diffeernt sizes?
There were or are different styles, makes, and diameters for brake wheels, and the Railway Prototype Cyclopedia 10 goes into this in some detail. It also identifies who has made a particular wheel and housing for modelers.
Vertical brake wheels such as on boxcars are typically larger than the horizontal brake wheels seen on some older tank cars and flatcars.
The article shows many styles of brakewheels from Ajax alone.
In reviewing the article is seems many vertical brake wheels were 22" but some were 24" (Miner D-2986).
The article says that HO models of the post 1937 Ajax hand brake wheel are available from Kadee #2020, 2030 and 2040 (the one the OP has) as well as Cal Scale 351 and Precision Scale Co. 3247 and 3254. At the risk of over simplifying, the “inner” circle on the brake wheel is about the width of the widest part of the brake housing itself.
Dave Nelson
Kadee’s brake wheels are supposedly correctly scaled. Many of those supplied with HO cars are very much oversized, so the Kadee parts look small in comparison. They should.
Here’s a prototype Ajax brake wheel as installed.
Measured the wheel it is about 1/4, so guessing the othere i have seen on models are oversized
One quarter inch is about 21-3/4" in HO scale, so I trust Kadee more than I trust the others.
Tom
You haven’t mentioned which models. Better manufacturers like ExactRail, Tangent, Kadee, Moloco, and Intermountain provide decently scaled brakewheels. If the car has fine details for everything else, it’s likely to have a more or less correct brakewheel. Cars with one-piece shells with most of the detail cast on are a different situation. Parts on older tooling from MDC, Athearn, and so on were often incorrect.
Just out of a spirit of adventure I decided to measure the brakewheel size on a totally random sample of rolling stock on hand (some of which is trainset quality because I am practicing some new weathering techniques and they were sitting on the workbench).
Mind you, these brake wheels were not all models of Ajax wheels, and did not claim to be. Some prototype brakewheels were in fact larger than the usual 22", some smaller. Ajax seemed pretty close to 22" as far as I can tell.
Some model manufacturers probably use the same size brakewheels for vertical staff flatcars and tank cars (which usually were smaller, more like 16") as for boxcars and reefers, so if their boxcar wheels are inches oversized, those for the other cars might be grossly so.
And Rob Spangler is correct that way back (and not so way back) some of the popular plastic models were a mix of prototypes, with the roof, doors, ends, side details, and things like brakewheel housings and brake wheels being a dogs breakfast modeled from different manufacturers, eras, and sources, all combined into truly generic “close to everything/exactly like nothing” models.
So … all measured with a General Dial Caliper that reads out in HO inches:
A pathetic AHM trainset quality gondola - 25". An Accurail 2 door boxcar 20". An old Walthers/Heljan tank car 25". A Bachmann trainset gondola 25". Athearn blue box boxcar 25". Train Miniature X-29 boxcar 26". A LifeLike Proto2000 50’ single door boxcar 22". Intermountain Modified AAR boxcar 22". E&C PS-1 50’ boxcar 22". Old Athearn all metal boxcar kit, a bit over 25".
Dave Nelson
While we’re on the subject of oversize (brake)wheels, Rob’s photo also demonstrates why I don’t care for metal wheels on my HO scale freight cars, even though I have a number of cars so-equipped.
Yeah, I know that lots of modellers love 'em and I’ve heard all the reasons why they like them, but that photo demonstrates perfectly why I don’t care for them. [:-^]
Admittedly, my plastic wheels are no more to-scale, but at least they don’t have shiny treads just begging for attention.
Tichy brake wheel on an Accurail car:
Tichy brakewheel on a scratchbuilt end on a Train Miniature car:
A different Tichy brake wheel on a Tichy 5-5-5 end on a double sheathed, double door Train Miniature boxcar (no need to point out the lovely wheels [:P]):
Another Tichy Ajax brakewheel, on a Cal-Scale gearbox mounted on an Athearn car:
Red Caboose brakewheel on a Red Caboose X-29 boxcar:
Some older models models had decent-sized brake wheels, but I’ve also seen ones both grossly oversize and undersize. Cal-Scale’s plastic AB brake set was one of the earliest to offer a to-scale version, and Tichy’s current brake sets include several wheels suitable for stemwinders or geared handbrakes.
Wayne
Some of the models that i have on hand, not packed away in storage, older athearn, bachman, model power, tycho, and a couple unknowns. What started me to wounder about the size is a couple pictures i have seen on caboose, the wheel looks bigger( also a couple real life caboose near where i live, the wheels seam larger, if i get a chance this weekend will stop by them and look again)
A couple of the models that i have, the brake wheel was way oversized and part of the model, so i trimmed it off and replaced it with the ones that i had ordered. going to replace the missing ones on some of the box cars.
Back when I was sentenced to work in the car department, we installed a few brake wheels. It was usually because the original one was missing. I have no idea why they fell off the car in the first place. Best I can remember, there were a couple of styles in stock so we just used what ever fit and looked right. I never remember being called out for making an improper repair. (like who would know, anyway)
From this experience, I practice the same thing in my modeling although a new car should really have the proper brake wheel in order to be prototypical.
I will quote one of my favorite railroad mechanical department employees, who said, “it ain’t the Queen Mary and it ain’t goin’ to the moon.”
Charlie