So im contemplating the final stages of my layout. I am constructing a small pike using only materials available to modelers in the 40’s. I am doing it to have a hi rail feel. I have considered converting some vintage kit built reefers i have from Westbrook and other companies to run on my 0-31 tubular track. (The big 726 looks magnificent pulling a string of these!). My question is can i change just the wheels to operate them on regular o track or does the entire truck need changed. If i can change the wheelsets where are they available and what size would i need? Thanks in advance for your input. I will use T-rail if anyone wants to donate it! Merry Christmas folks.
Electrically, two rail cars will run on three rail track. If there are any lights, motors, or other electric devices (doesn’t sound like it in your case) those would not operate on three rails. I guess I don’t understand the question. Are the trucks made after the 40’s and you want them to be changed for that reason? Are the wheels flanges not big enough to keep the cars on the track around the curves? Do the couplers not mate up with the others you are using? Are the couplers mounted to the trucks or the body of the car?
If the couplers are mounted to the body of the car, you’ll need to replace the whole truck, as I’d bet that the coupler will not pivot far enough to not derail the car on O31 curves.
If the flanges aren’t tall enough, I’ve got no idea what wheelsets will fit in your existing trucks.
As you can probably guess, I’m not real familiar with you cars. I hope if you answer those questions above, someone will know the answers.
Good luck,
J White
P.S. I’m sorry but I’ve got no T-Rail to donate. Ask Santa! 'tis the season you know [:D]
Don’t rule out the use of GarGraves track(also available in the 40’s - just not “Phantom Rail”) with your 2-rail equipment. The railhead cross section is as rail-shaped as T-Rail, or better(T-Rail is quite tall).
Rob
Sorry for the vague question. My wheel flanges are not tall enough to keep them on the track.
Thanks for the info
Ives, I have done the same thing. If you look in old issues of model builder from the 30/40’s, you will see tons of pics of layouts with 224’s pulling westbrook (or other) cars with tinplate trucks on them. While I think you could find wheel sets to add (to the scale trucks) that would have the deeper flanges you need, I have found that for the most part, the common body mounted scale couplers will not allow enough movement to make it around 042 or 054. So what I did was put a bunch of late prewar box coupler trucks on these cars. Now granted the many such cars I have were bought off ebay and most were probably built by someone during that time period and many show this! You could also do this with postwar trucks if you wanted. In fact the westbrook plans for these cars suggests where to mount the tinplate truck (how far from the car end). To me the key with doing this is to not use the standard pivot stub, but use a screw from underneath into the wood floor.
I realize this may not suit every bodys taste, but it is definitely in the true flavor of 1940’s era highrailing and a look in any of a dozen years of model builder will prove it.
I liked these cars so much I ended up with about30 old cars and 30-35 pairs of mint cardboard sides and ends to make new cars from and even a few westbrook and picard wood bodie kits. A new Atlas reefer will knock your socks off, but a string of these old cars is still super cool with a 2757 Pennsy caboose on the end.
My understanding of the situation is that early O-scale modelers used toy trains, like the Lionel scale Hudsons, equipped with outside-third-rail shoes; so their trains had the American toy-train gauge of 1 1/4 inches. Later scale modelers used true two-rail “Q-gauge” track, which was 1 3/16 inches, closer to 1/48 scale but not perfect. The present practice is “Proto-48”, in which the track gauge is completely to scale, which I calculate at 1.177 inches. So, depending on the source and age of your scale cars, they may need to be regauged even if the flanges are deep enough.
Bob, just to keep the record straight, very few O scale modelers ever used Q, or use Proto:48 standards today – the vast, vast majority of O scale layouts use 1-1/4 inch gauge, in the late '30s and the '40s with an outside 3rd rail (often with AC current) and (with a gradual changeover through the years) today with 2-rail DC.
Judging by the amount of talk about Proto 48 on the Internet, I had thought it was more popular. But I have no other basis for deciding; so I will defer to you. I realize that Q was a transitional gauge. The novelty of it impressed me when I heard about it in high school; so I had to mention it for completeness.