Plastic Vs. Steel Wheels

-bbbb said:
I have noticed an abundance of black dust on plastic and brass track while running stock with black plastic wheels even for a short time(it's noticeable when wiping the track with a tissue or sponge), but I have not had a control group of track running only metal wheels to see if there is a difference.

One benefit of metal wheels is that it makes it easier to get track power to lights in coaches and such. I wonder if anyone has made a metal ring which can be added to standard plastic wheels for that purpose... It might also help with the dust.

I've attached a sponge beneath one box car to wipe the track as it drives, and that seems to help keep the track shiny.
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Train-Li once sold stainless steel rimmed wheelsets made by pressing a rim onto LGB plastic spoked wheels. Same price as the LGB metal rimmed spoked wheels as I recall, but it was recycling. They are not currently available.
 
i am running largescale trackpower trains on brass for over 50 years now. (mostly LGB and Playmobil)
apart from the locos and 1 (in words ONE) two axle postcar - everything runs on plastic wheels. (edit: not true. i have one car with crude ironwheels from our village smith)

yes, there is some build-up of of dark dirt on the rails. so what?

only when i had my layout outdoors, i had to clean the track more than once a year.
as most of my locos have power pickup skids they grind the rails enough, for power pickup.
(LGB and Playmobil plastic wheels seem to be made of more resistant, tougher plastic, than the other brands.)

yes, roling stock with metal wheels have more weight, and as low as possible.
but steel wheels also are a big weight for ones purse.
so in my first decades of cheapscate largescaling i used buckshot, fishingweights and carwheel weights. (for the price of one set of steelwheels i could weight down a whole train.)

and now? - now i'm too parsimonious* to change the wheels of 40-plus cars. (cigarettes, booze, computergames ... so many other essential things i can spend my money on...)

*( had to look up this word, because i suppose, that the word for closed pockets, that i learned decades ago, would stirr up the wokies, because it starts with "n" )
 
FatherMcD said:
Train-Li once sold stainless steel rimmed wheelsets made by pressing a rim onto LGB plastic spoked wheels. Same price as the LGB metal rimmed spoked wheels as I recall, but it was recycling. They are not currently available.
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That makes me want to try to make my own.
 
Metal Wheels, all of my stock is fitted with them even my cheepie Toy Train Wagons. I have also dabbled in US varying metal ones but gave up on them (other than Bachmann) as I found that the running was not so reliable with derailments due to possibly differing back to back. Cant measure them now as they have all been sold on. Certainly for my needs of reliability LGB and Bachmann have won out. Hardly ever get wheel related derailments even without using devices that centre the wheels on curves. But I do run at slow steady speeds with all of my Locomotives set to run at a scale 20kph max so this helps enormously with the reliability stakes. However I do not really like the silver shiny finish on LGB nor those US wheels even when the sides have been coloured as David has done, Bachmann with their ‘dirtier’ coloured Metal certainly wins out on the looks stakes.
 
korm kormsen said:
*( had to look up this word, because i suppose, that the word for closed pockets, that i learned decades ago, would stirr up the wokies, because it starts with "n" )
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Sounds like my mnemonic for the resistor colour code. I heard it once and have never forgotten it. Can't possibly tell it to any one else now, without getting crucified because it's wrong on so many ways! I bet others on here know it though :mask::mask::mask:
 
Gavin Sowry said:
I've occasionally lost sight of my trains in the trees, then I hear the sound of steel on steel.... and instinctively look towards the back fence to watch the full size train go by, which isn't going by.
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'sfunny, I've never had a problem like that. But then, I can see all of my track without even moving my head.
 
korm kormsen said:
i am running largescale trackpower trains on brass for over 50 years now. (mostly LGB and Playmobil)
apart from the locos and 1 (in words ONE) two axle postcar - everything runs on plastic wheels. (edit: not true. i have one car with crude ironwheels from our village smith)

yes, there is some build-up of of dark dirt on the rails. so what?

only when i had my layout outdoors, i had to clean the track more than once a year.
as most of my locos have power pickup skids they grind the rails enough, for power pickup.
(LGB and Playmobil plastic wheels seem to be made of more resistant, tougher plastic, than the other brands.)

yes, roling stock with metal wheels have more weight, and as low as possible.
but steel wheels also are a big weight for ones purse.
so in my first decades of cheapscate largescaling i used buckshot, fishingweights and carwheel weights. (for the price of one set of steelwheels i could weight down a whole train.)

and now? - now i'm too parsimonious* to change the wheels of 40-plus cars. (cigarettes, booze, computergames ... so many other essential things i can spend my money on...)

*( had to look up this word, because i suppose, that the word for closed pockets, that i learned decades ago, would stirr up the wokies, because it starts with "n" )
Click to expand...
I once had the temerity to use that word in a short story I wrote for a county magazine. It was sent back to me, blue-pencilled, to change to something less contentious. I pointed out that the word had been used by Charles Dickens, W D Yeats, Robert Louis Stevenson AND Shakespeare, and if it was good enough for them, then it was good enough for a one-eyed tinpot county rag.

Oddly enough, they never replied........
 
tac foley said:
I once had the temerity to use that word in a short story I wrote for a county magazine. It was sent back to me, blue-pencilled, to change to something less contentious. I pointed out that the word had been used by Charles Dickens, W D Yeats, Robert Louis Stevenson AND Shakespeare, and if it was good enough for them, then it was good enough for a one-eyed tinpot county rag.

Oddly enough, they never replied........
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.. then, of course, Mel Brooks used it repeatedly in Blazing Saddles.
Being rather fluent in Brooksisms, these days, I get disapproving looks whenever I quote any. Once, to keep the peace, I lent my copy of BS to someone to 'educate' them, they saw the funny side.
 
Just to provide some pictures from some of the wheels on my fleet. I run on stainless steel track and use steel, plastic and 3D printed wheels in both FDM and resin. No electricity pick up, as everything is battery or steam. This was after about 500 - 2000 metres of running just for comparison.

Steam loco:
1625563331884.png

Slaters & GRS wheels on wagons:
1625563470887.png1625563913205.png

3D printed and painted wheels:
1625563617644.png1625563631273.png

Resin wheels:

1625563699787.png

I would imagine the majority of this muck is contamination out of the air and the oil that the steam engine drops. The track appear perfectly clean, but a wipe along with your finger soon reveals the true condition!
 
dunnyrail said:
Oh do people still have Sunday best? Thought that went out of fashion when the Ark was done away with.
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What would one attend the church in, without Sunday best ;)
 
JimmyB said:
What would one attend the church in, without Sunday best ;)
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Oh church what is that? Never been except when I was a Cub and left as I did not like going to church. Thus my only involvement has been at Weddings, but not Funerals as these have all been Cremations to the best of my memory. So yes you can call me an Agnostic should you wish.
 
korm kormsen said:
Paul M said:
Sounds like my mnemonic for the resistor colour code. I heard it once and have never forgotten it. Can't possibly tell it to any one else now, without getting crucified because it's wrong on so many ways! I bet others on here know it though :mask::mask::mask:
Click to expand...


*( had to look up this word, because i suppose, that the word for closed pockets, that i learned decades ago, would stirr up the wokies, because it starts with "n" )
Click to expand...
My wife's favourite family memory is when, as a child, she called her father an obese niggard. Apparently, he was impressed with her use of the English language :clap::clap::clap::clap:

From recollection, he was neither obese nor parsimonious :rock::rock::rock:
 
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