I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it school", so I do very little regular maintenance. When I buy new motive power or rolling stock, I have a routine that I follow before they go on the layout; check weight to NMRA RPs, replace any couplers that aren't Kadee with Kadee 148s and check the coupler height, and paint and weather the wheels and bodies. Any that don't roll freely, I use the Micro-Mark truck tuner to address that issue.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Medina1128 Any that don't roll freely, I use the Micro-Mark truck tuner to address that issue.
Any that don't roll freely, I use the Micro-Mark truck tuner to address that issue.
I will agree with that completely. I am kitbashing a car and the new trucks had one side that didn't roll well. One trip with the tuner and the problem was solved quickly.
Ewwww, plastic wheels. No, they are absolutely banned from my layout. When I ran them 30 years ago they built up excessive amounts of crud that just does not occur with metal wheelsets, and that becomes a safety issue. For all kinds of reasons--tracking qualities, lack of dirt buildup, etc. I only allow metal wheelsets on the layout.
I routinely replace almost all non-actual-Kadee couplers with real Kadee couplers, and I prefer #158 "scale" head whisker couplers.
Wheelsets: especially on Rapido freight cars, I am replacing them with Moloco semi-scale tread width painted nickel silver wheelsets. Free rolling is essential, and many recent release freight cars just do not roll well and need to be improved.
Maintenance: Only when something is damaged.
I'm running anything and everything on 26.38" Kato minimum radius track with 28.75" easements, and larger curves than that. My son wants long trains. We have a 2-8-8-4, and a DDA40X. Performance of wheelsets actually matters when one wants to attempt 50 car+ freight trains. Free rolling wheelsets are essential with heavy trains. They keep my locomotives from being brought to their knees.
The Tangent 86' boxcars are actually very free rolling, but are still heavy, and long trains of them will tax any loco's performance. Though I do run single unit diesels on some short trains of 10 or 12 cars, I have been recently triple heading Walthers Proto and Atlas diesels even in plain dc, but also in dcc (we have both, either one depending upon which way the DPDT switch is thrown). With the triple headed small diesels (U23B, GP35, GP30), I can get the train lengths my son likes that he runs with the DDA40X or the pair of SD90MAC-H's (30 plus cars up to much more).
Medina1128Any that don't roll freely, I use the Micro-Mark truck tuner to address that issue.
Rick
hbgatsfDo you know if that tuner works on metal trucks like the Walthers passenger trucks?
I used the Micro-Mark truck truck tuner on my Walthers Passenger car trucks with excellent results.
Note: My Walthers passenger car trucks have plastic sideframes, and I installed Kadee 36" wheels with plastic axles.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
PRR8259Ewwww, plastic wheels. No, they are absolutely banned from my layout. When I ran them 30 years ago they built up excessive amounts of crud that just does not occur with metal wheelsets, and that becomes a safety issue. For all kinds of reasons--tracking qualities, lack of dirt buildup, etc. I only allow metal wheelsets on the layout.
Decades ago, plastic wheels did collect a lot of gunk, but I haven't had that issue for ages. If a piece of rolling stock comes with metal wheels, I generally leave them in place, but I don't at all care for the racket they make.
I'm also not too fussy about NMRA weight specs, either: I have some cars so light that I can't run them empty unless they're at the rear of the train, but have some others at over twice the NMRA recommendations.In most instances, I run trains of 20 cars or less, but every once in a while will put one together with 80 cars-or-so.
Wayne
You would have to disassemble the Walthers Proto passenger trucks in order to even get the truck tuner between the side frames of the trucks, so — no.
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullman hbgatsf Do you know if that tuner works on metal trucks like the Walthers passenger trucks? You would have to disassemble the Walthers Proto passenger trucks in order to even get the truck tuner between the side frames of the trucks, so — no. Good Luck, Ed
hbgatsf Do you know if that tuner works on metal trucks like the Walthers passenger trucks?
I should have clarified that I was asking about the Proto trucks and that I was wondering about using the tool on metal instead of plastic after taking them apart.
No, they are meant for deburring plastic trucks; not metal.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Are all those passenger trucks sold by Walthers in the packs of two made with metal sideframes?
I have about 20 pair on hand, but have never opened a package.
My walthers Budd passenger car had plastic sideframes on the four wheel trucks. Was it an older model?
It has been a few years since I got my Walthers passenger cars so things could have changed. Back then there were two or three detail levels with corresponding price points. I believe I got a low end version (which had plastic trucks.) I bought an upgrade kit and the metal trucks. I don't remember if they came with 2 in the package.
hbgatsfIt has been a few years since I got my Walthers passenger cars so things could have changed. Back then there were two or three detail levels with corresponding price points. I believe I got a low end version which had plastic trucks.
My Walthers Budd car was less than $30.00 from MB Klein, so I'll wager it was also a low-end model.
I looked it up. I had bought the lower end Mainline cars and they had plastic sideframe talgo trucks. They were $25 each in 2017.
The Proto line has more detail and they were more expensive. They also come painted or with a real metal finish which affects the price. I figured it was cheaper to get the Mainline and improve the trucks and add body mounted couplers since this was just going to be an excursion train that wouldn't run often.
I suspect the trucks that you have in storage are the Proto ones that are metal.
hbgatsfI suspect the trucks that you have in storage are the Proto ones that are metal.
That must be true. The packages are Walthers Proto, and were around $10.00 per package.
How are the out-of-the-package rolling qualities of these trucks? I honestly just assumed they were plastic when I bought them. It is my inention to use them as upgrades on brass models and Funaro & Camerlengo kits.
SeeYou190How are the out-of-the-package rolling qualities of these trucks?
In a word — awful.
The axles are plastic and there's heavy paint in the needlepoint socket. A carefully placed drop of lubricant will improve the rolling qualities considerably. I use CRC 2-26 in a fine needlepoint applicator. In some I've attempted to get a coating of MolyDisulfide (Corning Molykote Z powder) but it is tricky to get a good coverage with the assembled truck.
After the application of the 2-26 the best advice is to run the cars. They seem to get better as the bearing surfaces find their sweet spot.
gmpullmanIn a word — awful. The axles are plastic and there's heavy paint in the needlepoint socket. A carefully placed drop of lubricant will improve the rolling qualities considerably.
That is not good to hear.
It sounds like the solution to a problem is becoming a new project.
Fortunately this does not sound like a difficult fix.
SeeYou190That is not good to hear.
It really isn't a problem, it is simply that the needlepoints need a little lube out of the box.
Proto_truck by Edmund, on Flickr
I should have been more specific that while the axle is plastic the wheel and point are metal. Once a bit of the lubricant gets where it's needed they're fine.
I routinely run up to eighteen-car passenger trains with primarily Walthers Proto cars. Just a little tune-up work is all that's necessary.
Some of the three-axle trucks have had minor interference issues say with the center mounting screw rubbing on the axle itself. A little tweaking, maybe a thinner flat washer (some cars have) or a little filing on the screw head itself.
Having electrical pickup will always involve some degree of compromise. Axle wipers introduce drag, too. The Kato, BLI and Rapido cars mostly use the bronze insert into the plastic sideframe. These seem to have less drag than the Walthers die-cast sideframes but only slightly.
The real "lead sleds" are the internal-bearing Amfleet trucks.
Amfleet_Proto-truck2 by Edmund, on Flickr
These could genuinely be called "Friction Bearings"
Cheers, Ed