Hi,
What would be the size of wheels for a 54 ft. gondola car? Modern era.
Thank you,
Chris
If it’s a 100 ton car (approx. load limit 200,000#), 36 inch. 70 ton car (load limit approx 154,000#), 33 inch.
Look at the car’s capacity data. A 70-ton car will usually have 33" wheels, while 100-ton car will have 36".
Although the 36" wheel is proper size for the 100T, i have found on a few makes where the larger wheel caused floor/ frame interference and didn’t want to “raise” the car w/ shims @ the bolster and just kept the 33". This was on some older Roundhouse flats/ bulkhead flats and gons. Just something to check.
As a side note: just finished 30 100T Bowser hoppers and installed the wheelsets, couldn’t figure why all the couplers were too LOW. Dah- (slaps head to wake up) I used 33" wheelsets instead of 36". A senior moment I guess!