Fox Valley Wheels

[tom mann]

Fox Valley really did us a service by releasing good looking metal wheels.  I have two 12 packs that I tested out, with two of the larger packs on their way from Chuck.  The real benefit is that we now have a 100ton, 36" wheel combination by using Atlas trucks and FVM wheels.  This really makes modern hopper and tank cars look great.  Plus, using the Atlas trucks lower your models a little bit.

Good times to be in the hobby.

[Sokramiketes]

Fox Valley really did us a service by releasing good looking metal wheels.  I have two 12 packs that I tested out, with two of the larger packs on their way from Chuck.  The real benefit is that we now have a 100ton, 36" wheel combination by using Atlas trucks and FVM wheels.  This really makes modern hopper and tank cars look great.  Plus, using the Atlas trucks lower your models a little bit.

Good times to be in the hobby.

These wheels are the best thing to hit N scale in a long time.  It'll be awhile till something tops them, but a nice new coupler would sure be in the running.

[tokenbrit]

Fox Valley really did us a service by releasing good looking metal wheels.  I have two 12 packs that I tested out, with two of the larger packs on their way from Chuck.  The real benefit is that we now have a 100ton, 36" wheel combination by using Atlas trucks and FVM wheels.  This really makes modern hopper and tank cars look great.  Plus, using the Atlas trucks lower your models a little bit.

Good times to be in the hobby.

Agreed, they're good looking wheels - I hope they'll consider releasing a 28" wheel to 'round out' the set

[tom mann]

Oh yes, a nice coupler sure would be nice...I almost forgot about that.

Get your orders in early, these will sell out. ;D

[UP_Phill]

Just placed an order with Chuckles.  ;D

[Denver Road Doug]

A related question...  On their website, they indicate the following differences in axle length:
 01 = .540" Axle - Fits MT Trucks
 02 = .553" Axle - Fits InterMountain Trucks, Some Atlas
 03 = .563" Axle - Fits Some Atlas, Con Cor , Bachmann

Can someone educate me on the difference in Atlas wheelsets?  I mistakenly bought a 100-pack of the 36" .553's over the weekend at a trainshow, when I actually needed the .540's to put on my IM 5161's which have MT trucks.  I'll probably just keep them instead of returning them but I was curious what they would work for.  Coalveyors had 36" wheels, right?  I'll check to see if they fit those Atlas trucks when I get home but I'm just curious what will work with what.  Now that I look at it, I'm guessing IM trucks = Accumates = Most new Atlas stuff.

[tom mann]

You're right DRD,

the .553s are for the new Atlas trucks and the trucks on IM cars before the switch to MT a few years back.

the .540s are for MT trucks

the .563s are for the old Atlas trucks (probably pre-accumate).

Coalveyors have 36" wheels and 100ton trucks.  So in this case, you would use the Atlas 100ton trucks with the .553s.  This combination should really make the Coalveyors look great.

[sirenwerks]

Tom,

You want to lend a rule for the use of 33" and 36" wheels too? I figure the modern tanks and covered hoppers pretty much all get 36", but...

[tom mann]

Tom,

You want to lend a rule for the use of 33" and 36" wheels too? I figure the modern tanks and covered hoppers pretty much all get 36", but...

28" for autoracks
33" for 70 ton cars like boxcars and flats
36" for 100 ton cars like tanks, hoppers (open and covered), gons, and big boxcars (mostly hi cube).

Wow, I bet most modern stuff has 36" wheels.

[Chris333]

Via Chuck's CA to OH shuttle service 



MT lo pro , Fox Valley, Atlas, IM (IM wheel has been painted and the axle was filed blunt [only IM wheel I could find])

These wheels are great!!!!

[tom mann]

Great photo, Chris.  The FVM wheel has NWSL looks for 1/3 of the price.  The drawback is that it is not nickel-silver plated, so polishing the tread to get the prototypical look just isn't gonna work.

My current approach is to use FVM wheels on everything and NWSL wheels on special "show-quality" cars to show off the wheel tread.  This is particularly effective on hoppers, where more of the tread is visible.  Having a thinner, silver tread is worthwhile in this case.

I paint the wheels with Rustoleum Rusty Metal primer, aiming the can parallel to the axle to minimize paint on the treads.  Work awesome and sticks better than acrylic paint to brass.  The color works for me, too.

 Stay cool and love FVM wheelsets...

[Chris333]

Running the wheels should get a silver tread in time... see there are reasons to build a layout

[tom mann]

Running the wheels should get a silver tread in time... see there are reasons to build a layout

but brass doesn't turn silver....it just turns brighter... ;D

[Sokramiketes]

Actually the face of the FVM wheels is better than NWSL.  The FVM is so crisp... the NWSL wheels look mushy now.

You could probably send 100 FVM wheelsets to a nickel plater and still be ahead cost wise over the NWSL wheels, and they'll look better.

Me, I like the blackened brass, means I can get away without painting all the faces in the meantime. 

[Mark5]

Damn, those suckas look good!