Coverting MTL, Atlas, Roundhouse and Atheran Rolling Stock Wheel Sets

[chuck geiger]

Will the Intermountain 33" sets work with all of these? They are brass (which is metal)? My couplers are all over the road, Would it better
to replace the trucks/couplers with truck-mounted couplers and then add the IM wheels?

[John]

MTL are.540

[jagged ben]

Just my experience and opinion, but IM's metal wheels suck.  Get the Fox Valley ones from Scale Trains instead.

Truck mounted couplers may be easier to get at the right height but are inferior to body mounting in pretty much all other respects.  There's no substitute for carefully installing body mounted couplers.  Metal wheels will not fix that.

The difference between .540" and .537" is not meaningful.

[chuck geiger]

See hats of a$$ rock! thanks

[chuck geiger]

Just my experience and opinion, but IM's metal wheels suck.  Get the Fox Valley ones from Scale Trains instead.

Truck mounted couplers may be easier to get at the right height but are inferior to body mounting in pretty much all other respects.  There's no substitute for carefully installing body mounted couplers.  Metal wheels will not fix that.

The difference between .540" and .537" is not meaningful.

Yes they rock, love the fact they show size and mfg. that they work on.

[GM50 4164]

Chuck, I use a little bit of everything. I have some from FV (ST), ExactRail, Tangent and ESM. I use them differently though. I like the wider treads on the ER as it gives just a little bit more weight to a otherwise light car. Tangents I'm using for all of my coal cars with MT trucks. The FV goes into pretty much everything else needed. I'm now using the ESM wheels for the same reason as the ones from ER.

[nkalanaga]

I used FV and IM, and they worked, but most of my cars ended up with ESM for one simple reason - When I wanted to order some, they were usually the only brand available!

At least from my dealer, they're almost always available, and if not, are soon back in stock.  I have some IM wheels that have been on backorder since October of 2021.

[John]

Thread drift


https://youtube.com/shorts/XWK1K2qgL_s?si=RlsicTPH3Er0ef3e

[chuck geiger]

Ha Ha See I don't have any issues with plastic wheels.

[DeltaBravo]

I have used FV, IM, and ESM. All mostly work fine, but I have had more issues with my FV than the others. Mostly the wheels not being properly seated on the axle. Additionally the scale tread wheels tend to derail if there is any variance in gauge. I have ended up using mostly the IM wheels. I find they track well, weight a hair more and have yet to have the wheels come off. Of course your mileage may vary.

[mu26aeh]

I have some FV and like David have more issues with them having to reseat the wheel on the axle.  I have a lot of IM wheels as that's what's been available at shop and don't have any issues.  Recent runs have been incorrectly sized axle lengths (discussed here in other threads) but have found uses for all of them.

[MetroRedLine]

Just my experience and opinion, but IM's metal wheels suck.  Get the Fox Valley ones from Scale Trains instead.

Truck mounted couplers may be easier to get at the right height but are inferior to body mounting in pretty much all other respects.  There's no substitute for carefully installing body mounted couplers.  Metal wheels will not fix that.

The difference between .540" and .537" is not meaningful.

Very true. .540" and .537" are essentially the same; a .347" axle width means the wheels will be more free-rolling in a standard MTL-compatible .540" truck, which is actually better.

Intermountain metal wheels are what I started out on when it came to metal wheels. They're not bad, but they're also not very prototypical-looking. If that matters, then I recommend to only get the following wheelsets:

Fox Valley Models (by ScaleTrains)
Eastern Seaboard Models
BLMA (by Atlas)

[BruceStikkers]

I have fiddled around with many types as they came out over the years and have settled on ESM as the best rolling and looking.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[mu26aeh]

Newer IM wheels are much improved in appearance over the old ones

[Mike Madonna]

I've used Fox Valley, both "semi-scale" (read narrow profile) and "standard" (wider tread) wheel sets. I have also recently started to use the ESM wheels. The FVM wheels have a little better looking wheel "face". However, when it comes to "free rolling", the ESM wheels are a bit better, IMHO. When one looks at the needle point end of the axle, the ESM has a slightly less "angle" on the point that fits in the truck side frame. I believe this allows for a little less friction in that area. A 40' standard MTL SD Boxcar with ESM wheels will roll at least another 4-5 car lengths than a similarly equipped car with FVM wheels (narrow or wide tread) on a test "incline" I set up. I'll give up a little "prototype fidelity" for a freer rolling car....