Engine wheels

[Anonymous]

I have Athearn engines on Nickel-Silver track. After just a few hours of running the wheels "gum up" and the engine starts to run sluggish. I have then to clean the wheels for better performance. I don't have this problem with my Proto 1000/2000 engines. Are there replacement wheels available for Athearn engines?

Thanks, DKT

[michealfarley]

Yes.

Northwest Short Line makes nickel-plated replacement wheelsets for almost all Athearn Locomotives. Check the prototypes to see what diameter you'll need.

http://www.nwsl.com/

[Anonymous]

micheal answered the what, now I'll handle the "why".

Because Athearns come with sintered iron wheels, they pick up crud more easily than the smoother nickel-silver wheels.

As with most things, there is a trade-off.

The nickel-silver wheels may stay cleaner, but they also don't stick to the track as well. Anecdotal evidence from rec.models.railroad suggest that your locos may lose 10-20% of their pulling capacity.

If you're picking up crud that quickly, it sounds like the track may need to be cleaned. Not because of oxidation, but because of dust and oil.

[AntonioFP45]

Good info, Jay_C.

I have a few Athearn FP45s and a U33B that will converted to DCC/Sound so in addition to installing Mashima motors, I'll be switching to NWSL wheels for these locomotives. Since my freight or passenger trains won't be very long (8 car pass/ 14 car freights), pulling ability won't be a big issue.

Cheers & 10-4!

[dharmon]

I have been using the original wheel sets on my Athearns and Athearn rebuilds without any problems both for DC and DCC. I do clean wheels fairly often, and we try to keep the club tracks clean. They do dirty up faster that NS, but really it's a dual effort, becasue if you don't keep the tracks clean, it's self defeating. On thing I do though is to clean the wheels very thoughly before I install a decoder.

[RMax1]

I bought a Kadee electrified cleaning brush and use it on just about everything. Works great and cleans the wheels in seconds.

RMax

[Don Gibson]

ATHEARN'S IRON WHEELS are not producing the 'gum', merely picking it up.

(1) Your repeated problem suggests an oil based product is getting on your track - either as a cleaner or from axle journals. There has been previous posts on this. In any case, eliminate the cause.

(2) One of the things you definitely can do to improve Athearn's running is to replace their iron wheels with either JayBee or NWSL half-axles which into contact with the track.
JayBee comes pre-packaged for 8 wheeled engines (GP's) and NWSL for 12 wheeled (SD's), so I use accordingly. I prefer the 'weathered' wheels as I have never seen a diesel engine with shiny wheels, plus the thin 'weathered' plating soon wears off leaving the wheels with shiny treads - like the prototype.

Caveat: get the same size wheels otherwise the couplers will be at the wrong height and pilots and snow plows may scrape the track.

(3) DC users will find better low speed operation plus DCC users will find superior signal transfer with the new wheels.

(4) Go back and correct (1) (probably an oil-based 'cleaning substance' used on your track). ALCOHOL (and abrasive BRIGHT BOYS) work best where you can reach. $100 cleaning cars for areas you cannot.

[AntonioFP45]

Hello Don,

Always enjoy your posts on wheels! Reading on your previous posts on the "Wheels" thread, it's apparent that you've had your "wrestling matches" with them. It's helpful that you've been sharing your experiences with wheels on this forum as for years it was one of the most neglected subjects in this hobby until the mid 90s.

Thanks for the good tip and reminder about wheel sizes. Athearn has the "one size fits all" approach on locomotive wheels even though some of the prototype locomotive wheel sizes varied.

I have a buddy who is heavy into DCC. He strongly recommends replacing the stock Athearn wheel sets with NWSL. He noticed a marked improvement in electrical performance.

Cheers!