Metal Wheel Set Upgrade Surprise

[BCR751]

I want to gradually upgrade all of my rolling stock to all-metal wheel sets.  I looked around and three manufacturers that appear to have high quality wheelsets available.  However, the prices for each are vastly different.  Northwest Shortline has a package of four for $13 which is $3.25 per axle.  Fox Valley has a bulk pack of 100 sets at $76 which is $0.76 per axle and BLMA has a bulk pack of 192 sets for about $125 which is $0.65 per axle.  Lots of variation in price but is there a lot of variation in quality?  Are the NWSL ones that much better to justify the huge price difference?  If you have any of the above mentioned sets, I would like to hear the pros and cons. 

Doug

[lock4244]

I use FVM for Accumate trucks and love them. I use BLMA wheels when I change a truck and can't say anything bad about them, but only use FVM to swap wheel sets from trucks.

[Norway2112]

I have been using Fox Valley wheels almost exclusively and have no complaints.  I get them from MB Klien (modeltrainstuff.com) in the bulk packs and they're around $55 per pack.  On rare occasion I have had some mismatched wheel sizes in the bags, but I just used them in other stuff so it all worked out.

[bobdobbs]

 I have used FVM for all different trucks, including replacing the IM cab forward tender and pilot and trailing truck wheelsets, great looks and great operational qualities in all sizes and tread  widths.

[Dupesy]

I also use the Fox Valley wheels in Accumate trucks, and the BLMA wheels if I need to keep the MTL trucks or BLMA trucks if I'm brave enough to body mount the coupler.  I also have had a couple bags of the Fox Valley wheels with a few wrong size wheels in them.  Also, I've had a few (4 total) FVM axles that the insulated wheel had come off the the axle.  Easy enough to fix if you're careful. 

[up1950s]

NWSL for very small diameters in the past , future as needed .

Atlas for awhile , treads are hard to shinny up and flat faces are distracting .

Fox Valley now till I run out , but they are good and I may continue . Bought some ( WIDE 33s for MTL ) ( why call them wide when the bigger flange is more distracting ) .  You will see them used on this weekends update under a Pepsi refer , and even those look pretty good .
 
BLMA my first try , the bulk is in the mail , they may take over some Fox Valley or not .

[altohorn25]

I may be biased (Matt is a friend of mine), but I use the FVM wheels almost exclusively.  I've switched out all my plastic MT low profile wheels with the FVM narrow tread wheelsets.  The added weight of the metal wheels help with tracking and they sound cool going over joints.    They run excellent both on code 55 and code 80 track.  The only problem is occasionally on peco turnouts, the wheels will drop into the frog.  The problem is with the peco turnouts (out of gauge) not the wheels.  Easy fix is to add a small piece of styreen to the frog.

Nate

[sundowner]

I used FVM and BLMA wheels on my cars, mostly FVM because I bought a bunch and I keep them as i sell replace old rolling stock. I got the BLMA with the rolling stock and they work good as well.

[BCR751]

Thanks to everyone for your input.  I think I will go with the FVM narrow tread wheelsets.  Now to figure out how to dull the shine on the outside of the wheels.

Doug

[Puddington]

I use FVM 36" wheels on almost all my passenger cars and use Bragdon powders to dull them down.... These are FVM wheels with Bragdon powders applied very lightly.

[BCR 570]

Doug:

The NWSL wheels have been around for a long time and for a while they were the only option for low profile metal wheels.  They are machined well and perform well; unfortunately they have always been very expensive and have always been available only in a pack of four axles.

The Fox Valley wheels have been well received in the market.  They look great and operate well, are available in three different axle lengths, and are fairly priced including 100 packs.  I started using them exclusively several years ago and have been very happy with them.

The BLMA wheels are more recent and they also look great and run well.  I used their 36" wheels in my Kaslo Shops 100-Ton rotary gondolas as I could not get any 36" FVM wheels.  I don't think you can go wrong with either BLMA or FVM.

Intermountain also offers low profile metal wheels.  They have very heavy rims which detracts from their appearance in comparison with the BLMA and FVM wheels, but they are easily the most free rolling of any of the metal wheels.


Tim

[ryan_wilkerson]

I've used FVM mostly in both Atlas and MTL axle lengths. They make 36", 33" and 28" wheels and I've used some of each, probably close to 600 axles.
I purchased the BLMA wheels also and they are good. For cars that I want a 100-ton truck and will use body mounted couplers, I got with the BLMA truck/wheel sets. They look great and lower the car a bit.

I believe ExactRail will be releasing metal wheels in the future too. I think they will offer them in a weathered look or something like that.

[PGE_Modeller]

Doug,

I have used both NWSL and Fox Valley wheels and have been pleased with both.  There is a slight difference in weight: a dozen Fox Valley 33" wheelsets (0.068" tread) with 0.540" axles have a net weight of about 8 grams (+/- 0.5) while a dozen NWSL 33" wheels with 0.540" axles and 0.072" tread have a net weight of about 10 grams (+/- 0.5).  The difference is most likely due to the different material used for the wheels as the approximately 6% increase in wheel volume (due to the tread width difference) is not sufficient account for a 25% difference in weight. On flat cars and gondolas where it can be hard to get additional weight anywhere, I will probably continue to use the more expensive NWSL wheels and take all the extra bit of weight I can manage to get.  I could get more accurate weights if I started pulling wheels out of cars so I could weigh batches of 50 or 100 instead of 12.  I only have one car with BLMA wheels, so I can't do a valid comparison with them.

[christoph]

I have converted many of my cars to metal wheels, mostly FVM, which I buy mostly in bulk packs.  Lately I used more BLMA wheels, too, just because the wheel contour looks good.
Since Atlas and Athearn are now using metal wheels for their new models, the reasons to change wheels are less.

I wrote up some things I learned during my conversion activities (my father calls it "excesses"  ):
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/blog.php?1780-christoph

[MichaelWinicki]

I use FVM 36" wheels on almost all my passenger cars and use Bragdon powders to dull them down.... These are FVM wheels with Bragdon powders applied very lightly.

Hey Mike, any concerns over the weathering powders causing any conductivity issues?  I've been going back & forth– paint or weathering powders.  I did notice that you used the words "very lightly".  That's probably the key.

Anyone else use weathering powders on wheelsets?