0-27 Streamline Luxury Lines Green

[671]

     I have the four passenger set of these cars. My challenge is that they do not roll on the track easily.
     I have oiled all of the friction points, this did not " loosen up " the rolling resistance.
     The trucks have "live axles ( Wheels and axles rotate together ). I believe that the excess drag is created by the center section of the axle passing through the center portion of the truck.
      Post war Lionel trains used solid axles with the wheels rotating in the axle not with the axles.
      Has anyone had experience with what I am describing? Did you find a solution to this challenge?
       Can the axles and wheels be changed out to a more original design? Wheels spinning on the axle not with the axle.

                                Thanks...671

[jpstrainyard]

JP of Acton MA, USA writes,

I will try to answer this one as best I can.

I have a 6 car madison passenger set (original Williams) where the wheels rotate independant of the axles, so the cars roll smoothly. Since you have the 027 repro lux. liners, your best bet is if you are going to change the trucks, I would suggest trying to find trucks from the original postwar lionel 027 lionel lines cars. I have a ton of postwar lionel fr. cars, which feature the wheels and axles rotating independantly of each other. Readin your post, I was a bit confused by what you mean by saying "I believe that the excess drag is created by the center section of the axle passing through the center portion of the truck." Let me know what you think. I'm just giving possible ideas, as I do not own either the postwar 027 linoel lines passenger cars or the WBB lux. lines cars.

Sincerely: JP

[671]

jp,

     I think that I have found the cause of the high coefficient of drag. The center rail electrical pickup has a very high tensioned spring pushing down on the pickup roller. ( Two per car ) This appears to be causing the unusual amount of drag ( rolling resistance ) on the cars.
     I cleaned the rollers with electrical contact cleaner and then used Teflon lubricant.
The rolling resistance  decreased slightly. This did not disturbed my electrical conductivity due to the extreme force created by the too strong roller springs.
     I need to find softer springs to replace OEM springs. 

                              Thanks...671

[phillyreading]

Have you checked out the new truck assemblies that Bachmann is selling for the Williams passenger cars? This might be what you need, instead of the older Williams truck assemblies.
FYI; Williams has made or sold two or three truck assemblies for use with their passenger cars in the past. I have two versions of the Williams passenger set; "King Coal" for the Reading Company, each set has differant truck assemblies although they both look exactly alike when on the track next to each other.
One truck assembly has three sets of wheels; two metal and one plastic without flanges, with fixed(non operating) couplers. The other set has three metal wheels that are fast axle, wheels and axles joined together, and a differant type of center rail pick-up, and operating couplers.
Both sets are from the Crown Edition era.

Lee F.