Metal wheels for Atlas cars

[tom mann]

I would recommend taking a look at the BLMA wheels for tank cars due to their back profile.

[Ken Rice]

The backs of the BLMA wheels do look nice, but somehow I can't get too excited about that when the most obvious thing (the tread width) is so much larger than prototype.  I'm not a purist by any stretch, it's just what seems obvious to my eye.

For the FVM wheels - do the semi fine scale tread ones go through the Atlas code 55 turnout frogs without a problem?  I've got a small number of FVM narrow wheels and I'll be able to do some limited testing myself, but I'd welcome opinions from people with more experience over a wider variety of cars and conditions.

[Chris1274]

I would recommend taking a look at the BLMA wheels for tank cars due to their back profile.

BLMA wheels can't be beat. I've got them on most of my rolling stock. Unfortunately they only fit Micro-Trains trucks; they're not wide enough for Atlas trucks. What's worse, MT 1035 trucks don't work on Atlas tank cars (at least the ones I have). The draft gear box is too big.

[mmagliaro]

The backs of the BLMA wheels do look nice, but somehow I can't get too excited about that when the most obvious thing (the tread width) is so much larger than prototype.  I'm not a purist by any stretch, it's just what seems obvious to my eye.

For the FVM wheels - do the semi fine scale tread ones go through the Atlas code 55 turnout frogs without a problem?  I've got a small number of FVM narrow wheels and I'll be able to do some limited testing myself, but I'd welcome opinions from people with more experience over a wider variety of cars and conditions.

The original ("fine" tread) are all I have ever used and they go through all my Atlas code 55 with no problems.
I don't have any issues with them dropping into frogs, getting stuck in guard rails, etc.   

[Ken Rice]

The original ("fine" tread) are all I have ever used and they go through all my Atlas code 55 with no problems.
I don't have any issues with them dropping into frogs, getting stuck in guard rails, etc.

Excellent.  Thanks!

[nkalanaga]

Tom Mann:  I used BLMA wheels, and trucks, on most of my tankers, because they also needed to be lowered.  Unfortunately, I have one that needs BLMA 100-ton trucks, and so far my dealer hasn't restocked them.  It's languishing with 70 ton trucks...  The BLMA trucks bring the older MT cars down to the perfect height for 1015/1025 couplers without needing any frame filing.

My MT modern car also needed 100-ton trucks, but by the time I finished, it didn't need the lowered truck bolster, so it has Atlas trucks with Atlas wheels.

[Ken Rice]

Just finished doing some testing before heading over to the LHS to order more wheels.  Some things I wasn't expecting came up.  First, the FVM axle lengths are not quite the same as their advertised to be.  The 0.563 FVM axles I have actually measure more like 0.570, the 0.553 are closer to 0.558.  The 0.540 seem to be right about that.

The best rolling FVM wheels for the Atlas ACF 5800 plastics hoppers seems to be the 3602.  But it's not quite as free rolling as the original wheels.  There doesn't seem to be a better alternative so I'm going to go with the 3602 for now at least.  That also clarifies which of the power options I'll go with - it's going to have to be the 2 GP38-2 option (was also considering a single GP40-2, or possibly an MP15).  I was kind of favoring the 2 unit option anyway so that's no big deal.

I watched carefully while pulling and pushing through turnouts and I do see a little wheel drop at the frog (#10) but not enough to be a problem.

I also found that some of my older Atlas boxcars seem to roll best with inter mountain metal wheels, so I'll be ordering some more of those too.

Long term I'll probably convert everything to body mount couplers, at which point it will be easier to revist the truck / wheel choices if I wait better rolling stuff still, but for now getting the railroad operational with "good enough" is much more important than perfection.

[bbussey]

You always can install the "wide tread" versions of the wheels to avoid "wheel drop" on turnout frogs with large tolerances.

[mmagliaro]

My general experience with replacing MT plastic wheelsets with the FVM ones is that there is
a little more drag with the FVM.  It's not enough that I care.   When I just push a car
to coast, the FVM equipped car always seems to be a tad less free-rolling.  And in a string of cars
on a train, I tested that out a few times with all MT vs all FVM wheels, and I could definitely feel
more drag. 

But FVM look and work so much better that
I standardized on them, and any new car, and any car that gets serviced always gets them.

Now... you've got my attention on those BLMA wheelsets.  I notice you can buy bulk packs of them
for MT trucks.    Any opinions on the free-rolling qualities of BLMA vs Fox Valley?

[Ken Rice]

I realized during some more test operations yesterday that there are pluses and minuses to free rolling cars.  The minus side being chasing a car down the track while trying to couple.  My couplers are at the moment a mixture of accumate and microtrains.  The MT couplers seem to require the least force to couple, the combo that seemed to require the most force is MT to accumate.  Obviously I'm going to have to do something about couplers eventually, but I think I can tolerate the current situation until I get everything running and a first pass at scenery and buildings.

[davefoxx]

My general experience with replacing MT plastic wheelsets with the FVM ones is that there is
a little more drag with the FVM.  It's not enough that I care.   When I just push a car
to coast, the FVM equipped car always seems to be a tad less free-rolling.  And in a string of cars
on a train, I tested that out a few times with all MT vs all FVM wheels, and I could definitely feel
more drag. 

But FVM look and work so much better that
I standardized on them, and any new car, and any car that gets serviced always gets them.

Now... you've got my attention on those BLMA wheelsets.  I notice you can buy bulk packs of them
for MT trucks.    Any opinions on the free-rolling qualities of BLMA vs Fox Valley?

Max,

You can flex the sideframes out (or in) a little bit to loosen (or tighten) the fit of the wheelsets in the sideframes.  I always cringe when someone claims that certain wheels roll better than other wheels, whether it's specific brands versus another or metal wheels versus plastic.  FVM has different axle lengths, so get the correct axle length for the specific truck and then tweak the sideframe, if necessary, to get it really free-rolling (or to add some resistance).

By the way, this is how I fixed the wheelsets that came with the ER waffle boxcars.  They didn't roll well at all out of the box, so I flexed the side frames out a little and, voila, much better!

Hope this helps,
DFF

[mmagliaro]

Dave, fair enough. 
I did realize that the added friction had to be in the side frames.
I will try bending out the sideframes a little on some examples, but I have to say, I'm not crazy about
that as a solution.

But I would have expected Fox Valley to make their wheelsets have the correct length axles for
MT frames if I buy the ones for MT trucks, which I am.  Why can't they just make them the same length
as the MT plastic axles?

[bbussey]

That's assuming the tolerances haven't changed on the Kadee/MTL truck frames as the worn tools are replaced.  I know that the earlier Kadee/MTL pre-pizza-cutter LPWs don't roll freely in the current truck frames because the newer frames are slightly more narrow than the original frames.
 

[nkalanaga]

Bryan:  I noticed that too, and the new MT wheelsets seem to be too short for the old sideframes, which is where I first noticed a problem.  The first FVM MILW ribbed side boxcars came with the new MT wheelsets in (apparently) older sideframes, and the wheels kept falling out!  Fortunately I have so many older wheelsets, MT and Precision Masters, that it hasn't been an issue for me yet.

[bbussey]

I eliminated both problems by ditching the plastic wheels, given that there are a number of metal wheel options where the contour of the wheel face now resembles that of the prototype.  The metal wheels also sound better than the plastic wheels, they don't pick up as much crud as the plastic wheels, and they are easier to clean.  Kadee/MTL wheels just seem to develop a tire of crud when they have regular use — and always have since they first appeared in the 1970s.  I'm guessing the Celcon plastic just attracts more lint than brass and other plastics.