Which side are traction tires usually on?

[Boyd]

Which side are traction tires usually on, on all the various brands of engines. I read a few posts about steep grades and thought if a person was building a helix, that it should rotate in the direction that would put the traction tires on the outside rail in order to get more leverage.

[chuck]

On diesels they are on opposite sides for each truck.  Not sure on steamers as I only have one with traction tires.

[cnw1995]

On my engines with 'em, they're on a pair of wheels on the same axle. I don't think it would make a difference if they were on the outside vs. inside wheels of an engine going up a grade on a helix...

[otftch]

I have three K-line s-2 diesels and the traction tires are on different wheels on each.None seem to work better than others.Most other brands are on the same axle on both sides.

                                                         Ed

[EIS2]

From a functional point-of-view, the traction tires would work better if they were just on one side of the locomotive.  This is because when a locomotive goes around a curve, the outside wheels must go farther then the inside wheels.  If the wheels have a solid axle, one of the wheels must either slip or skid.  Slipping or skidding would work better without a traction tire.

Earl

[RR Redneck]

From a functional point-of-view, the traction tires would work better if they were just on one side of the locomotive.  This is because when a locomotive goes around a curve, the outside wheels must go farther then the inside wheels.  If the wheels have a solid axle, one of the wheels must either slip or skid.  Slipping or skidding would work better without a traction tire.

Earl

True, but what if you have alternating curves. Then it "skids" on the traction tire regarless.

[lionelsoni]

The wheel with the lesser adhesion, that is, the one without the traction tire, will be the one to slip regardless of the direction of the curve.

[chuck]

Steam engine, one tire on each side of a single axle.  MTH diesel/electric, tires on one side of the lead power truck and opposite side of the trailing power truck.  Lionel, both sides of one axle on the powered truck (PA-1), same arrangement as MTH on an NW-2 Lionel switcher.  If there's a pattern here I can't detect it.

[daan]

The wheel with the lesser adhesion, that is, the one without the traction tire, will be the one to slip regardless of the direction of the curve.

Traction tyres on both sides of 1 axle don't work. They come loose in no time. I had a steamer having that setup and after glueing them on, changing them for new ones etc, I decided to just get them off. They came of the wheels every time again making me frustrated about it. It showed that the traction tyres didn't make a huge difference in pulling power either on my small layout.

So indeed only on one side, ore none at all.