Wheels & Trucks

You will find some basic data here. A few years ago, there were still heated debates on plastic vs. metal wheels, but now, it's pretty much accepted that plastic wheels are just a cheap way out by the manufacturers.

Wheels, metal or plastic?

Note: cast/molded wheels often have wobble as opposed to machined wheels.

All plastic wheels are cast. Some metal wheels are cast, some are machined. 

Standards:

Please check the Standards area under TRACK. You need to make some choices, but I suggest you first pick your Back to Back spacing, it is the SINGLE most important aspect of your wheelset's measurements.

There have always been people who think that the check gauge of the wheelset is important. It's really not the most important.

The most "dangerous" part of trackwork is switches, and the thing that guides wheels through switches is the guardrails.

The BACKS of the flanges/wheels are what ride against the guardrails.

In HO and other scales, the flange widths, and usually the entire wheel contour are the same in most cases. Then you could use check gauge, because it is "fixed" in relation to the back to back.

Not even close to being true in Large Scale. Flange widths are all over the place, from thick to thin.

So there are 2 reasons why you should measure and set the the back to back gauge. Your check gauge should be within specifications afterwards. If it is not, you need to consider other wheelsets.

Dimensions of commonly available metal wheelsets:

Notes:

These measurements are taken as close to the flange as possible, but staying "off" any fillet that may exist between the flange and the wheel tread.

I'm not comparing all plastic wheels, if you are replacing plastic wheels, keep in mind if you change the diameter, you may affect clearance issues and coupler height.

You must pay attention to the diameter of the axle tip and the overall length of the axles. I'm updating the information below bit by bit.

Rolling stock wheels

Locomotive wheels

Notes on various manufacturer's wheels

AML metal wheelsets (sintered steel, stainless axles, blackened)

New in late 2008. Part G12-111. (about $6 per axle, great price) I have been buying more of these lately, they have a rough finish on the tread that leads to more rolling noise. I believe these are sintered steel, and no plating. The price is great.

Axle ends .112" in diameter, overall length about 2.84", axle protrudes about .35" from the wheel face, no outer shoulder.

Aristocraft (machined, blackened, no bearings)

Item art-29111b These used to be an inexpensive alternative/upgrade, but the price is going out of control, I bought 4 axles for $16 a few years ago, now over double that. I think these are fine wheels, but they scale out at 35.7" and with the flanges look out of scale (which they are). High quality machined wheels. The plating is not great sometimes, and, like all Aristo plating, wears off more rapidly than their competitors. The wheels appear brass underneath. A very nice replacement wheel, but the price has shot out of sight. 

Bachmann (cast, no bearings)

Bachmann item number 92421. These wheels are cast, not machined like the others. They are priced very low, so do not expect extremely high quality. This is usually the cheapest way to change to metal wheels. For my money the Aristo or USAT or AML wheels are a better choice. I have found the overall quality poor, and many wheels wobble. I have had unacceptable quality from 10% to 50% depending on the "batch". You can buy cheaper at the same quality, or spend the same and get better quality.

LGB double BB wheelsets:

Part number number 67403. Great quality, lowest drag way to do power pickup, clips attach to pins on axle, can be slid off easily to remove axle. Good appearance, shiny, appears to be nickle or chrome plated. Too large in most cases, but probably the best quality materials and machining. The LGB wheels have shiny plated wheel treads with a plastic center. They are very well made, but don't look too realistic. The ball bearing ones are very nice and have 2 small pins for power pickup. These are my choice if I only have a couple of wheels that can pick up power. They are much larger than others, so if you put 2 axles on a caboose, for example, you need to match the larger diameter with the matching non-ball bearing ones from LGB.

I swapped these onto my USAT woodsided caboose. It had carbon brush pickups, and when my layout was in a rough stage, the drag from those pickups made long trains derail. The pickups needed some form of lubrication, and anything I tried made a mess. The LGB wheelsets made all the difference, but at first I tried just swapping one axle on each truck. More derailments! The difference in wheel diameter caused the truck to hang up on the underframe. Replacing 2 more wheelsets with standard, non-ball bearing wheels from LGB of equal diameter fixed the problem. They are shiny, which is something I'd like to fix some day.

Dean Lowe:

I have heard he makes nice wheels, no web site, here's his email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you get a price list or info, let me know. I have a couple I purchased at a show, but have not used them.

NWSL (NorthWest Short Lines) http://www.nwsl.com/

Recent new owner. As of 2009, they are still getting their act together. It used to take quite a while to get wheels from them. I ordered some and 4 months later, nothing. When I called up, the nice woman on the phone had no idea what I needed, I asked for wheels for a Aristo RS3. She did not know which ones they were. She told me to pick, and I could not make heads or tails of their price list. I finally made a guess, she took my name, etc and my CC number. Nothing. A friend of mine called recently, and got to the bottom of this, and was told there were "problems" associated with the Aristo wheels that have the tapered center hole. A little more pressing, and "out of stock" turned into "probably will no longer be made".

Click here for their price list.

Gary Raymond:

I have not tried his wheels (yet). Many people tell me his wheelsets are the highest quality. I may try to order some, I need some metal wheels for my old Lionel Atlantic. I would love to replace the crappy plated steel wheels on all my Aristo diesels, but Gary (as of now) does not make replacement wheels with the tapered hole in the center to fit Aristo. 

Note: I have heard "horror stories" by people who order smaller flanges and have trouble. These people think you can just run semi-scale wheels anywhere. You need really good trackwork to use smaller flanges, and 90% of all G scale layouts I see have bad trackwork. It's not right to blame the manufacturer when you try to run scale flanges on poor trackwork.

From Gary:

"I make 3 basic "Degrees of Fineness" (NMRA term) wheelsets. We have 60 models total at present which fall into these three basic categories. 

1).G & 1:29 Semiscale which will work in all worst case situations with really bad 332 track, as reliably as other deeper flange wheelsets in most cases.

2). F, 1:29 and #1 Finescale which are smaller flanges and will work on all 148 to 332 if the trackwork is reasonably well done

3). PROTO (Exact) in #1. Will work extremely reliably on all 125 to 250 rail, but require .059" flangeways (typical Semiscale flangeways used in most 197 to 332 trackwork are in the range of .118")."

Per Gary: "The flange heights vary based on scale also but basically, PROTO in 1:32 is .031"-.033, 1:20.32 .049"-.054", SS .062"-.068" and the deepest .090" approximately"

I did not know Gary was the Technical Chair for Large Scale in the NMRA. That's a good thing in my opinon! He's actively involved in the track and wheel standards.

Gary's contact info is:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , PO Box 1722-R, Thousand Oaks CA 91358, 805-492-5858  www.trainwheels.com

San-Val double BB wheelsets: (machined, steel, stainless axle, double ball bearings)

Several people have reported inconsistent dimensions and loose insulators. Since San-Val no longer exists, you only see this product as used, or sometimes from Ana Kramer, the ebay identity for what is left of San Val.

They are double ball bearings (each wheel) and roll well. they can be a lot less expensive than Aristo or LGB.

They come shiny steel or with a blackened finish. The shiny ones can be darkened somewhat with a magic marker.

The blackened ones are not nickle plated, and some people have commented about rust. Oil the bearings on regular intervals in humid climates.

You might have to trim the brake shoes on older Aristo cars using these wheels.

I have not tried these yet. Might order some, but they seem to be a lot smaller than other wheels. The advantage here is cost.

Sierra Valley Enterprises:

Have not researched yet, here is the web site: http://www.sierravalleyenterprises.com/index.html

USAT (machined, brass, blackened, stainless axle, no bearings)

I like these wheels and the AML the best, scale appearance, (work out to 31.9", with the larger flanges, look just like 33" wheels). They are heavy, with a solid metal axle, and are fixed to the axle more securely than the aristo wheels. This means they go out of gauge less. I have had very few problems, but I have had loose insulators on a few, when regauging, be sure that the insulator moves with the wheel. Blackened brass with stainless steel axles. They are heavy, track well, and the thin axle is a plus since it is less likely to hit the coupler draft gear box when using Kadees. They have a small plastic insulator in the center of each wheel. They always come slightly undergauge. Put them in a vise so that the wheel backside is supported by the vise, and a light tap with a soft mallet on the axle is all that is usually needed.

 

Trucks - sprung or not?

Well, at first you might think sprung trucks would follow the track better. But my initial experience was that USAT and AML cars (no springs or equalization) stayed on the tracks much better than Aristo (sprung trucks).

Why was this?

At first I had all truck mounted couplers. If you think about it, the coupler tang is a long lever arm on the truck. The springs allowed so much flexibility in the motion of the coupler tang, it led to couplers deflecting up or down. This caused all kinds of problems when there was a significant number of cars in the train. Couplers would climb over each other, uncouple, and in the case of Kadees, the trip pins would hit rails at switches, track magnets, etc.

OK, so I am all body mount now. I expected the problems with Aristo freight cars would go away, but I still had more derailments with the Aristo cars. I started buying AML cars, and I still had better luck with USAT and AML than the Aristo. 

From my experience, with reasonable trackwork or better (I cannot speak for bad trackwork), sprung trucks add nothing to operational reliability, and are actually a negative when there are truck mounted couplers and/or trains of significant length.

As an aside, I thought that the difference in weight between Aristo and USAT cars (comparing 40' box cars) was the factor, but my AML cars are closer in weight to the Aristo, so that does not appear to be a factor.

Bottom line, don't expect better performance from sprung trucks, and remember that the Aristo truck springs can rust outdoors.