A week of wheels: FVM wheels in at Scaletrains

[dandopinski]

Do the semi-scale wheels handle Peco switches ok or do they drop in the frogs?

[dem34]

I have yet to find anything to proper NMRA specs that doesn't drop in Pecos long frogs. I know a lot of British and Japanese modelers put a small styrene shim in the frogs to remedy it though..

[GaryHinshaw]

^Agreed.  I have a few dozen long Peco switches in my staging and these FVM wheels drop like most other NMRA wheels do, but they never derail or cause any particular problem.  And it is staging, so I don't really care if they drop a bit.

[dandopinski]

Thanks for the info. My Club uses Peco switches exclusively

[nkalanaga]

I shim all of the guardrails on my four Peco turnouts.  All in the staging yard, so no need to paint anything, just use Evergreen strip.  On mine, now close to 30 years old, the ties are apparently styrene, so Testors cement works fine for gluing shims.

[oakcreekco]

Do you have any pics of how the shims look?

[wazzou]

Do you have any pics of how the shims look?

I don't have any of the PECO turnouts remaining from my previous layout, but it's simply a matter of gluing a strip of .010" x .040" in the flange-way of the frogs.
I also shimmed the inside vertical of some frogs to effectively narrow the gauge.

[peteski]

I don't have any of the PECO turnouts remaining from my previous layout, but it's simply a matter of gluing a strip of .010" x .040" in the flange-way of the frogs.
I also shimmed the inside vertical of some frogs to effectively narrow the gauge.

On my friends layout we shimmed the guardrail instead (on the surface where the inside face of the wheel will contact).  While we haven't tried it, shimming the bottom of the frog's flangeway (making the flangeway shallower) would also reduce how much the wheel drops down when it rolls through the frog.

[robert3985]

Do you have any pics of how the shims look?

If you're worried about how .010" X .040" white Styrene strips look on your Peco turnouts, you can always cut .040" strips out of .010" black Evergreen sheet stock.

I'd think the black Styrene shims would be virtually invisible.

Unfortunately, Evergreen doesn't make any black Styrene strips.

Here's the Evergreen site:  https://evergreenscalemodels.com/collections/plain-opaque-black-styrene-sheets

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[oakcreekco]

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated

[Bendtracker1]

Do you have any pics of how the shims look?

I used this trick a few years ago and it worked like a charm.
Here's what I posted on my blog.
https://thelittlerockline.blogspot.com/search?q=shims
Note: After doing a few turnouts, @davefoxx  suggested the use of black styrene instead of white.

[nkalanaga]

I used 0.010 x 0.060, instead of 0.040, but the same idea.  A little light sanding took it down to 0.055, to match the rails.  The track needed to be cleaned anyway, so it wasn't any extra work!

The black plastic would probably be a good idea, but mine is in a staging yard, in a closet, in a different room from the layout, so it doesn't matter if they can be seen.

[larry p mahoning division]

I have used the white styrene strips. I paint the track and turnouts then ballast and they are not noticeable.

[nkalanaga]

The only problem with white styrene is on sceniced layouts, if one aggressively cleans the track.  The paint wears off eventually.

That would be one advantage of 0.040" shims, as the top would be below rail height, so wouldn't be damaged.  The disadvantage is that, if one uses small enough flanges, they might ride over the shim.

ESM's flanges are 0.017", while the difference between a 0.040" shim and Peco's "code 55" rail should be 0.015".  That's a little close for my comfort.  An HO 1x4 strip would be a little taller, and not much thicker, so might work better.  I've never tried it.

[mu26aeh]

In a quick follow up to @DeltaBravo finding the IM wheels marked for MT trucks not fitting, I too have found some that do not spin freely after installed in the truck.  It's not a certain MT truck style except I did find a trend of the 70 ton roller bearing trucks, specifically those that were factory installed on Fox Valley Models 5347 boxcars do not like them.  But I also found some 100 ton roller bearing MT trucks they did not like.  Meanwhile, the other night I replaced about a dozen MT cars with no issues.