Any interest in ribbed backed metal "Chilled" wheels in N scale?

[nkalanaga]

It wouldn't be that hard to cast dummy wheelsets, in two molds.  One would have the wheel and outer axle, with the main parting line around the edge of the flange, and a socket in the back.  The other would be the middle of the axle, with the parting line along the axle, and designed so that they'd fit into the socket.  Basically, that's how the KD metal axle/plastic wheel wheelsets were made, only these would be to scale.  No need for a metal axle, or a metal wheel for that matter, as even the tread would be rusty if it sat for very long.

Unless one is modeling a wheel/axle factory, or a main shop where wheelsets are assembled, it's very rare to see loose wheels and axles.  They're hard to put together, and most roads either buy them assembled, or assemble that at one point, then ship them to shops as needed.

[SandyEggoJake]

@Maletrain I like your idea of also making available prototypical axles as a detail piece for show too.  Of course, as such an axle would not work as a runner, it wouldn't need to be metal... hmmmm....

 

[Missaberoad]

Almost like such a thing would be done already 



http://www.ebay.com/itm/FREIGHT-CAR-WHEEL-LOAD-N-SCALE-FNM-560/112337000496?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140602152332%26meid%3D00cd2a0701b849d58cefc25f6fddbcb7%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D112302931267

[SandyEggoJake]

it's very rare to see loose wheels and axles.

Well, not sure we can agree @nkalanaga.  I can show tons of pics with wheel sets lying around.  In the era of these wheels, every engine house and car shop had them for repairs.  They were also re-turned in lathes on site.   Huge piles of good and bad loose wheels too.  If you have such structures on a layout of this era and DONT have a spur with spare wheelsets, you're not doing it right.


@Missaberoad

Yes, I own a FNS resin casting load myself.  Of course, this casting isn't metal, nor a runner by any stretch of the imagination.

[Missaberoad]

Yes, I own a FNS resin casting load myself.  Of course, this casting isn't metal, nor a runner by any stretch of the imagination.

Was not trying to imply that, it was simply in response to your post just above mine... something acceptable for a static detail is already available... 

Would still love to see a semi-scale metal wheel set with the proper back profile acceptable for "running" 

[nkalanaga]

SandyEggoJake:  OK, I'll defer to your knowledge.  These wheels were banned from interchange before I was born, and were nowhere to be seen in Pasco in the 1970s. 

By then, loose wheels were uncommon, and the only time I remember seeing any was on a tour of the Gunderson (FMC) shops in Portland.  They had stacks of them, as well as axles, and a giant press for assembling them.

[SandyEggoJake]

@nkalanaga,

You were born after 1970, but have a keen recollection of freight car wheelset details from before you were ten?  Most impressive.

 

(The chilled cast iron wheels were banned from interchange in 1970, but still can be found on MoW etc, even today)

[Maletrain]

Those "Fine N Scale" company wheels look a little wide, to me.  (Not to be picky or anything.)  But, I suppose I could use their axles with the wheels we are talking about in this thread. 

[peteski]

Those "Fine N Scale" company wheels look a little wide, to me.  (Not to be picky or anything.)  But, I suppose I could use their axles with the wheels we are talking about in this thread.

AFAIK, that is a 1-piece resin casting. Taking the wheels off the axles would be a bit difficult.

[nkalanaga]

SandyEggoJake:  No, I was born in 1957, which I misread as when they were banned from interchange.  That's when they were banned from new cars. 

It wasn't until about 1970, when they were banned from interchange, that I started paying attention to details around the Pasco yard and roundhouse.  Before then, it was just "trains", although I'd grown up around them, with my father working in the yard.  All I remember seeing was wheelsets with the modern steel wheels, so I suspect that the BN replaced any old wheels that needed work with the new ones, and scrapped the old ones.

The only standard gauge car I can remember noticing ribbed wheels on is an ancient Morehead & North Fork boxcar, outside Morehead, KY, sitting on the few remaining feet of the abandoned railroad.  I doubt that it has moved since the 1970s, but there it sits, and is accessible, if one knows it's there.  If a railfan wants to see it, the folks at the railroad museum in Morehead might give directions. 

[Ron McF]

The only standard gauge car I can remember noticing ribbed wheels on is an ancient Morehead & North Fork boxcar, outside Morehead, KY, sitting on the few remaining feet of the abandoned railroad.

Too far for me to visit, but is this the car you mean? If you zoom in you can see the ribs on one of the wheels.  (Thanks to Google Earth Street View.)


A better photo of this car, from earlier times, can be downloaded from here:
http://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/morehead_north_fork/108/

(Apologies for being off-topic, but I think this is an interesting car.)

Regards,
Ron McF

[SandyEggoJake]

Oh shoot.  I was just in Lexington too, given Mom sold our farm in Liberty and is moving to the 'burbs. 

Yes, chilled are obviously rare on class I's today but certainly commonplace throughout the 1950's & 60's.  Tony Thompson excellent blog includes pics like long cuts of PFE reefers sporting ribbed wheels as well as this this Southern Pacific uncopyrighted pic of a pile of them from this period. 

Another use that would be killer is on skeleton log cars.  They lasted forever and are rarely interchanged.  For all those with logging ops, chilled wheels were the default on such from the Seattle Car & Foundry Company and others. 

AFAIK @nkalanaga if a rebuilt car got a new trucks, they would roll with the new set on that truck (likely smooth sides).  However if the removed ribbed cast iron wheelsets still had life, the frugal railroad would reserve them for replacing the odd worn ribbed wheelset truck, or (after '70) for MoW or moving condemned cars.   Note most lines weren't too picky to match the rib pattern, rather it was about matching all with cast iron.

[nkalanaga]

That's the car! 

And, in my Morning Sun Books SP&S Color Guide, I found two pictures of MOW flatcars, identical cars, except for the trucks.  One has archbar trucks with steel wheels, the other has cast frame trucks with iron wheels.  Both pictures were taken in 1973.  So the BN did have some cars with ribbed back wheels.  Odd that the older trucks have newer wheels, but stranger things have happened.