Does Kato track wear down wheels on curves?

[DKS]

After operating a good-sized layout for the last 40-some years, I can report that wheels most definitely wear out. I've seen the nickel plating worn off of brass wheels, and a slight depression form in the middle of the wheel tread. I've also seen flanges worn until they were paper-thin. Steam locos that do not have all geared drivers are the first to go as the delicate siderods wear and break. Meanwhile, I've seen very little wear on the rails themselves. Think about the ratio between the railhead on a layout with a few hundred feet of mainline as compared to the circumference of a wheel, and you can quickly grasp why wheels wear far faster than the rail.

[Matt Noel]

That's good to know, however the argument remains weather Kato track wears out the wheels quicker?  I remember in my conversations it was about weather to use Kato track for a return loop or Atlas, and the person I was speaking to said because Kato uses a harder metal, it wears the wheels down.  I want to find out the truth to this, but I think there's a larger part of me that wants to suggest that this is nothing but a myth.

[Ian MacMillan]

You just take the rail out and flip it around and wear the other side of the railhead  Its what we do in the cash strapped real world!

[sizemore]

That's good to know, however the argument remains weather Kato track wears out the wheels quicker?  I remember in my conversations it was about weather to use Kato track for a return loop or Atlas, and the person I was speaking to said because Kato uses a harder metal, it wears the wheels down.  I want to find out the truth to this, but I think there's a larger part of me that wants to suggest that this is nothing but a myth.

Maybe you should build a loop of track and test.


The S.

[Chris333]

Nothing a thin coat of cereal varnish won't fix.