track type; which is better?

[jbrock27]

Jeff, which older cars do you find have these problematic wheel sets?  Which makers?
Thanks.

[Doneldon]

racer-

I'll go with Code 83 (or 70) nickel-silver flex track on cork roadbed or the new foam-like Woodland Scenics roadbed. Paint the sides of the rail with paint pens (similar to markers) and conceal the roadbed with ballast. Use one size smaller rail for sidings and yards, half-height ballast for sidings and no ballast in yards. Use the longest turnouts you can and avoid the ones labeled "switch" except maybe in yards. Mount the roadbed and rail with plastic-safe construction adhesive (I like Liquid Nails for Projects) ^and/_or clear caulk. This will give you excellent reliability and a prototypical look with less time and labor invested compared to other track systems. There's a reason this is the most used trackage. You can leave the ballast off but it won't look as good. Polish the tops and inside surfaces of your railheads and use the tiniest drop of Conductalube or Wahl's Clipper Oil on the rails to maintain electrical conductivity.

If your present rail is magnetic, it's steel alloy. It will have attached black plastic roadbed. This is not a premium product. It doesn't look too great unless it is carefully ballasted, the rail is too large for anything smaller than the heaviest mainlines in the country and it is fraught with corrosion and conductivity issues. Frankly, I'm not sure why it was made.

Welcome back to the hobby and good luck with your new railroad. Keep us up to date on your progress.

                                                                                                                                 -- D

[rogertra]

I always thought stage lighting could be heavy work.

Not really, the electrics all fly so hanging and striking the lights is not difficult though they can be heavyish.  Hauling feeder cable across an arena floor or from the gennie to the distro on a movie shoot, now that can be tough.  But as I designer, I just provide the crew with the lighting plot and they do all the heavy work while I stand and watch.

[jbrock27]

Doc, I have a question for you about the paint pens that maybe you can help me with.  A month or so ago, I bought a Sharpie brand one at a local craft store.  There was no indication of gloss or flat finish.  When I put it on the side of the rail, it dried too glossy for my taste.  Do you have a suggestion on how I might take away the glossy finish?
Thank you.

[jward]

Jeff, which older cars do you find have these problematic wheel sets?  Which makers?
Thanks.

the cars most affected are older train set cars with horn hook couplers mostly, along with some very old cars from the 1960s or earlier. these often show up at train shows on tables of used trains.

notorious were tyco, ahm, life-like, model power and Bachmann cars. note that any Bachmann product which has knuckle type couplers probably has the proper rp25 contoured wheels, though they may be plastic.

I find that rp25 contour plastic wheels perform as well as the metal ones, but require more cleaning than metal.

some older ahm cars have metal wheels, which have large flanges. these should be replaced as well.


older cars from atlas, athearn and roundhouse usually come with plastic rp25 wheels. these I run as is and replace the wheels at a later date, the other types get priority when replacing the wheels.

[jbrock27]

Thank you.

I remember you noting at one time (maybe more even than once) that you preferred metal axles to plastic ones as they keep their shape better and keeps the wheels in gauge better.

[rogertra]

Follow jward's advice, replace ALL your plastic wheel sets with metal ones.  Even the better brands need their plastic wheels replaced.

Metal ones track better. roll better, get less dirty and add needed weight to the cars.

[JNXT 7707]

[/quote]

I find that those older cars should have their wheelsets changed out to something with a better contour. this is even more important than having all metal wheels. those wheelsets with the extra large flanges are usually of very poor quality, often out of guage and cause a whole host of derailment problems. I refuse to run them on my layout for those reasons.
[/quote]

Oh I agree wholeheartedly with you, and I do change to a better contour (metal if I have it) as a rule. That said, there are a handful of old 'historic' pieces I have (mostly old locos) that would be problematic to change out the wheels on. I don't run them much, but I like to be able to run them if I like.
Funny thing, I was out for a walk today along a stretch of CSX mainline and as I was checking out the tracks it just jumped out at me that they looked exactly like Code 100 (proportionally of course   ).

[jward]

modern mainline rail is actually pretty close to code 83. code 100 is taller than anything ever used on the railroads in this country. the closest was the 155lb rail used by the Pennsylvania  and Bessemer railroads in the late steam era. on both lines the rail took incredible abuse: the Bessemer served as a conduit for iron ore from lake erie to the steel mills of Pittsburgh, and backhauled Pennsylvania coal to the lake for transshipment elsewhere. the pennsy ran an incredible amount of trains, over 300 per day over the Allegheny mountains on its 4 track main.

[rogertra]

modern mainline rail is actually pretty close to code 83. code 100 is taller than anything ever used on the railroads in this country. the closest was the 155lb rail used by the Pennsylvania  and Bessemer railroads in the late steam era. on both lines the rail took incredible abuse: the Bessemer served as a conduit for iron ore from lake erie to the steel mills of Pittsburgh, and backhauled Pennsylvania coal to the lake for transshipment elsewhere. the pennsy ran an incredible amount of trains, over 300 per day over the Allegheny mountains on its 4 track main.

300 trains per day?  About what ran through Crewe UK in steam days in a typical eight hour shift. 

[jbrock27]

Thus far, I've had good luck changing out talgos for car mounted wheel sets of both plastic axle and metal axle type, both with plastic wheels.  While they probably add more crud to the track, I have not yet found the need to go on a rampage and replace them with metal wheels.   I have to say, I do like the metal axles better.  But metal and plastic axle both run fine.  Getting the couplers body mounted, to me, has been the bigger of the 2 pluses.

[JNXT 7707]

Thus far, I've had good luck changing out talgos for car mounted wheel sets of both plastic axle and metal axle type, both with plastic wheels.  While they probably add more crud to the track, I have not yet found the need to go on a rampage and replace them with metal wheels.   I have to say, I do like the metal axles better.  But metal and plastic axle both run fine.  Getting the couplers body mounted, to me, has been the bigger of the 2 pluses.

You are about where I'm at - I'm trying to get metal wheelsets on everything but the cost keeps that goal in the distance. If I could stop acquiring old stuff that need new wheels it would help, but you know how that goes 
I do have the couplers under control though. I obsess about the metal wheels but the plastic will do.

[jbrock27]

I do know.  I am buying "old" "new" stuff all the time-I gotta stop!!

[jward]

300 trains per day?  About what ran through Crewe UK in steam days in a typical eight hour shift.  

that may be so, but I guarantee pennsy brought more tonnage down the mountain into Altoona (one direction only) in 8 hours than passed through crewe in a whole day, possibly two days. around here, passengers have always been small potatoes compared with freight, especially coal. western Pennsylvania was such a profitable coal field that we had branch lines which saw more trains then than most mainlines do to-day.

[rogertra]

300 trains per day?  About what ran through Crewe UK in steam days in a typical eight hour shift.  

that may be so, but I guarantee pennsy brought more tonnage down the mountain into Altoona (one direction only) in 8 hours than passed through crewe in a whole day, possibly two days. around here, passengers have always been small potatoes compared with freight, especially coal. western Pennsylvania was such a profitable coal field that we had branch lines which saw more trains then than most mainlines do to-day.

Can't argue about tonnage.    Mind you, back in steam days, a lot of those trains would have been freight.  Not heavy by North American standards but 900 to 1000 ton trains, say a couple of hundred per 24 hour shift.  Other than Australia, which runs the world's heaviest trains, nobody beats North America for individual train tonnage.