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

[nkalanaga]

All of the ribbed-back KD wheels I had were plastic, and they worked fine on Railcraft code 55 flextrack, even when clean.  It's possible that as the molds wore, the spikes got taller, because most of my track was from the late 70s.

I turned a bunch of these down, after the original KD 1008 lo-pros came out, and they worked fairly well, considering I eyeballed the flanges, and turned them by sticking them on a piece of brass rod in a Dremel.  To make it worse, I did it at work, in the late 80s, when I had an hour or so at night to just sit and watch a computer print reports.  I probably had about an 80% success rate, with the rest refusing to track well, for various reasons.

Too the original question, no, I don't need any.  My 1974 BN couldn't use them in interchange, and if I want any for "scenery" cars, I have plenty of the old ones.

[RAILCAT]

I would be interested in how these wheels could be manufactured.
Current wheels are either molded plastic (celcon/delrin) or machined metal.
Turning does not allow the type of detail required.
How then would the ribbed back be formed, a plastic insert perhaps?

[pmpexpress]

This is the thread I mentioned. It includes a photo do the wheels, but no part numbers. I also don't have part numbers for both types of the ribbed-back wheels. For all I know, trucks using both wheel variations might have been sold under the same part number.

One of the posts in that thread speculates that those were discontinued due to broken/worn  molds.

Rarely seen these days and prone to corrosion issues, the black Delrin plastic axle cast metal rib backed wheels were marketed by Kadee Quality Products as stock number MT-1057; blister card packaged twelve-packs of factory assembled replacement wheel-sets, or, found on pairs of factory assembled, blister card packaged stock number MT-1000 Bettendorf trucks with an MT-5 Magne-Matic knuckle coupler that was held in place by a steel screw.

Never factory installed on any of the Kadee Micro Trains production rolling-stock, the aforementioned MT-1000 trucks and MT-1057 wheels were supplanted by the more commonly seen, screw-less truck frame with cast metal axle and Delrin wheels that were introduced on Kadee's 1972 release "Blue Label"  models.

[peteski]

Rarely seen these days and prone to corrosion issues, the black Delrin plastic axle cast metal rib backed wheels were marketed by Kadee Quality Products as stock number MT-1057; blister card packaged twelve-packs of factory assembled replacement wheel-sets, or, found on pairs of factory assembled, blister card packaged stock number MT-1000 Bettendorf trucks with an MT-5 Magne-Matic knuckle coupler that was held in place by a steel screw.

Never factory installed on any of the Kadee Micro Trains production rolling-stock, the aforementioned MT-1000 trucks and MT-1057 wheels were supplanted by the more commonly seen, screw-less truck frame with cast metal axle and Delrin wheels that were introduced on Kadee's 1972 release "Blue Label"  models.

I had a feeling you might chime in Neville. Very good information. Was the later iteration of the rib backed wheels (metal axle and plastic wheels) sold as individual wheel sets, and what the part number was?  Was it also MT-1057?  What I'm after is info whether both wheel set designs were sold under the same part number or not (both individually and installed in the trucks).

[SandyEggoJake]

@pmpexpress

Yes, thx Neville.  As an aside, your ebay buyers guide on Kadee /MTL is a great resource. 

For those that might not have seen it yet, see http://www.ebay.com/gds/Kadee-Micro-Trains-MTL-1-160-N-Scale-Variations-Guide-/10000000003822658/g.html

[MK]

I haven't!  Nice guide!  I printed it out to PDF for future reference.  Thanks!

[pmpexpress]

peteski,

Focused on the evolution, historical, and production aspects of model products, I couldn't help myself.

While blister packages of the later iteration of rib backed wheel-sets retained the MT-1057 stock number for approximately four more years, during a round of stock number changes for the entire Kadee product line (e.g., MT-1057 became 1007, MT-5 became 1025, and MT-1050 became 1311), all of the packaged "Kadee N Gauge" accessories, couplers, and trucks had the "MT" prefix dropped in 1976.


SandyEggoJake and MK,

Your comments are greatly appreciated.

The eBay reference guide was a very early draft of a work in progress.

Previously made and very constructive comments from peteski have prompted me to update and add additional content (both in the form of text and photos) to a new version of the manuscript that will eventually be hosted off of eBay, which should provide much easier access to it.

[peteski]

peteski,

Focused on the evolution, historical, and production aspects of model products, I couldn't help myself.

While blister packages of the later iteration of rib backed wheel-sets retained the MT-1057 stock number for approximately four more years, during a round of stock number changes for the entire Kadee product line (e.g., MT-1057 became 1007, MT-5 became 1025, and MT-1050 became 1311), all of the packaged "Kadee N Gauge" accessories, couplers, and trucks had the "MT" prefix dropped in 1976.

Thanks Neville!  So it is possible for the MT-1057s to contain either type if the 3-piece rib backed wheels.

[OldEastRR]

And the final outcome of all this discussion ..... will these new ribbed-back wheels be made? And of what? And available how?

[pmpexpress]

Thanks Neville!  So it is possible for the MT-1057s to contain either type if the 3-piece rib backed wheels.

You're welcome.

While the answer to your question is yes, from what I have observed over the years, packages of the earlier versions of the wheel-sets had purple and black printed blister cards with $1.80 MSRPs, while the later variations had red and black printed blister cards with $2.00 and higher MSRPs.

When one is unable to actually see what is contained in a factory sealed clear plastic blister (e.g., while attempting to make one's purchase online), the aforementioned information can be particularly useful in determining which variation of Kadee wheel-set the package contains.

[peteski]

Very useful info - thanks Neville!

[nkalanaga]

"Never factory installed on any of the Kadee Micro Trains production rolling-stock, the aforementioned MT-1000 trucks and MT-1057 wheels were supplanted by the more commonly seen, screw-less truck frame with cast metal axle and Delrin wheels that were introduced on Kadee's 1972 release "Blue Label"  models."

No wonder I never saw them.  Although I may have bought a few 1025s before 1972, the first KD trucks I bought were under their boxcars.  I was still an unemployed teenager then...

[nscaler711]

I think they would be cool to see, I may not have any use for them but I have seen them on museum rolling stock and always thought they were cool. ( pun intended  )

I do however think that they wouldn't be very cost effective in N scale as they would probably have to be machined to be up to current standards... if not machined maybe stamped or die cast... which we all know how that ends up. Either awesome but expensive, or expensive junk. 

[Papa David]

@pmpexpress

Yes, thx Neville.  As an aside, your ebay buyers guide on Kadee /MTL is a great resource. 

For those that might not have seen it yet, see http://www.ebay.com/gds/Kadee-Micro-Trains-MTL-1-160-N-Scale-Variations-Guide-/10000000003822658/g.html

Thanks for posting this link: what a great resource.

[Maletrain]

Since the idea is to make more realistic wheel sets, I vote for narrow tread width.  And would buy some, but not convert my whole fleet, since it is circa 1952.

Further, I would like to see some axels that model the real axels, with the diameter tapered to the middle, AND THE BEARING ENDS SQUARE.  I realize that these could not work in N scale trucks, where pointed axels are needed.  But, the scale axels with ribbed wheels would make great looking loads and clutter around repair facilities.  So, I am suggesting that such axels be sold separately as "details" so that these ribbed back wheels could be taken from operable wheel sets and put on these "show" axels.