ESM N wheels are in stock

[bbussey]

Best to hunt down vintage Kadee wheels and turn the flanges down. 

[peteski]

Best to hunt down vintage Kadee wheels and turn the flanges down. 

Looks like  Bryan is not (yet) swayed by nkalanga's "wheelset overtures".   

But his is a good suggestion for anybody hoping for some new ribbed-back wheels. 

[nkalanaga]

Bryan:  I've done that, and for MOW cars they're fine.  Most of mine will never move anyway, so rusty treads are prototypical.  But for cars that do move, metal treads would be nice.

Peteski:  I suspect that any company making modern detailed wheels could make them.  Recess the rear of the wheel, and make the plastic insulator big enough to include the ribs.  Both sides would be insulated, but I suspect that there are more steam-era modelers who'd like the ribbed wheels than would want power pickup in their freight cars!

[peteski]

Peteski:  I suspect that any company making modern detailed wheels could make them.  Recess the rear of the wheel, and make the plastic insulator big enough to include the ribs.  Both sides would be insulated, but I suspect that there are more steam-era modelers who'd like the ribbed wheels than would want power pickup in their freight cars!

My ribbed-back wheels comment was  tongue-in cheek because of Bryan's comment about turning down flanges on MTL wheels. He might have also been joking. 

As for any any model company ever making ribbed-back wheels in N scale, considering the current N scale market I don't think that will ever happen again. Not only there aren't that many modelers modeling that era, and the inner face of the wheels is not really all that visible in an average N scale freight car.  It is one of those details that while cool, most can live without.

[nkalanaga]

I wonder if MT still has the tooling for those old wheels, collecting dust in some back room?