What brand and size of nickel silver wheelsets should I get to replace those old Steel wheelsets on Athearn locos? Are Proto 2000 loco wheelsets compatible?
What are the size of the wheels for an Athearn GP-38 or SW9? 40 "?
I think it depends on the age of the locomotive- older Atherns had half axles, so you can’t just stick another set in. I’m not sure what the newer ones are like, the newest Athern I have was bought in about 1982!
But yes, they are 40" wheels, and NWSL has the replacement half axles ready to drop in. That’s the first palce I’d look if they’re not the half axles, they specialize in goodies like that- www.nwsl.com
On newer Athearn (plastic side frames on the trucks) the wheels are interchangeable with P2K. And the new RTR Athearns are coming with nickel silver wheels, you may be able to get them as spare parts directly from Athearn.
Personally, I would go with .088" wide NWSL wheels, but your track work needs to be pretty good.
All my Athearn engines are from the early 70’s - to early 80’s and have the metal sideframes…so I guess they would be the half axles. they pick up crud from my rails like magnets!
I can run an engine with nickel silver wheelsets around my nickel trackwork in my son’s room 10 laps and hardly see any crud build up…I run a clean Athearn GP30 with steel wheels and it comes back with bad crud build up after only 3-5 laps!!!
It’s incredible the difference in quality running that nickel silver wheelsets provide!
I’m glad newer locos have them…
NWSL (and others) make replacement nickel silver wheels for older Athearns with metal sideframes.