Decent MOW cart wheels wanted

[DKS]

For the sake of completeness, Railway Express Miniatures also has a line of MOW items, although the wheels are rather crude:

http://www.nscalesupply.com/REM/REM.html

And, wrapping things up, Woodland Scenics makes a handcart:

http://www.nscalesupply.com/Wsc/WSC-A2177.html

Has anybody made the GHQ speeder and how crisp and true were the wheels out of the box ?

I have the kit, have not assembled it yet; I'll see if I can grab a shot of the raw pewter casting.

[Ian MacMillan]

Something along these lines would lend themselves to many home-brewed MOW mini things I think . They almost look like flanged brake wheels . just don't want some super wide wheel tread that will make them look goofy . They could be plastic or white metal , but some manufacturer could make a buck or two having these as a staple if they looked good and not like an afterthought .

First one is a Fairmont M9...looks to be former BAR car. 16" pressed steel Fairmont wheels, and it has tread brakes. Flange brakes was an extra option from the factory. Flange brakes were useful if you did a lot of in the weed running. Also you had to use flange brakes if you chose to use Fairmont rubber tread 16" pressed wheels. Here is an MT14 that my friend Gordy rebuilt with flange brakes and rubber tread 16"s



Send one is a Fairmont lorry cart, I believe a model 700. 16" pressed, with oak or hickory wood frame (it changed from time to time, and then some RR's replaced it with pine or steel down the road)


It would be nice to have some more speeders in N. HO has MT14s and MT14's with Canadian cabs, and M14's with and without roofs.  :-[

[DKS]

Here are the GHQ Fairmont Speeder wheels in their raw form:
 

[up1950s]

Here is a quickly done bored out Z wheel with a Gold Metal Models brake wheel slab on top . A bit of a pain for just one wheel but acceptable as an option I think . The Z is .155 which is about 26 or 28 inches I think without the flange .

[up1950s]

Oh those GHQ wheels are molded to the frame . Thanks for that shot David you saved me a few bucks . I would rather have raw wheels , or wheel axle sets . Makes for easier options on carts .

[kiwi_al]

Here is a quickly done bored out Z wheel with a Gold Metal Models brake wheel slab on top . A bit of a pain for just one wheel but acceptable as an option I think . The Z is .155 which is about 26 or 28 inches I think without the flange .

Hmmmmm oh the possibilities, that looks pretty good Richie, I wonder if you can get various types of etched brake wheels like the sort that MT produce? Hmmmm maybe use a plastic MT one - I wonder how that would go?

[randgust]

When I did the infamous 'powered dog cart' I used Railway Express Miniatures wheels leftover from something, I think it it was the tie cart:



Anyway, as you can see, between the tie crane, tie cart and old Fairmont, there are some pretty nice cast dinky wheels there.



What I want is something that small that actually is a decent wheel, and I'd be doing stuff this size that ran that wasn't a spoof.  The motor isn't the problem - wheels are.  Watch gears will do that part.

[Andrew Hutchinson]

Richie,

If you have access to a small lathe I have a method for making speeder wheels out of styrene. If you're interested drop me a line at ahutchinson.mudbay@gmail.com

Andrew Hutchinson

[DKS]

I honestly think it's worth looking at the GHQ wheels. They may be a pain to remove from the speeder frame, but I think once they're removed, they'll do the trick. They look to be good and true. I think all it would take is a jeweler's saw to slice away the frame from just behind the wheels, file the wheel backs down, and clean off the brake parts. I'm certainly game to try.
 


Maybe once they're removed, someone might be able to cast them. (Sorry, GHQ! We needs our wheels!)

[up1950s]

Richie,

If you have access to a small lathe I have a method for making speeder wheels out of styrene. If you're interested drop me a line at ahutchinson.mudbay@gmail.com

Andrew Hutchinson

Thanks Andrew , but this old Craftsman I picked up in 1963 is about 4 times too big for such precision work as evidenced by the N scale box car on top . Great for 1/2 inch to 3 inch stock , but not a N gauge tool .

[up1950s]

Depends on what you are looking for, and what to use them on. You maybe able to turn some from brass or styrene rod.

Most common sizes were 16" and 20" wheels. The two largest manufactures are/were Harsco, Tamper and Fairmont

Motorcars generally used pressed steel wheels in 14" and 16" size. MT19's through A5's had 16" wheels, M14's generally did as well. Some A4's and A5's had pressed or cast 20" wheels. A6's, A7's and A's had cast 20". Lorry carts had pressed 16". Gandy cranes had 16" pressed...despite their excessive weight.

Small carts and push spikers, push spike removers generally had 6" cast.

Switch tampers, tie handlers, tie inserters, brush mowers, spikers, spike pullers, ballast regulators have 20" cast.

Oddly we can get the smallest wheels . They are plastic and I guess about 6 inches and are attached to a frame that mounts vertically to the REM air compressor . I would think the frame would work equally as well horizontally under a wooden deck or could be sliced off and used individually . They are pretty crisply made for their gnats butts size , and at 6 bucks or so for 2 units I think , so you get enough for 2 carts , but these are too small for anything other than the smallest gems or guide wheels under some speciality equiptment .

[Ian MacMillan]

Richie that might just work. I have seen tie cars using the 6" hy-rail wheels and they can support the weight of a 20 tie bundle.  Main reason the carts used the 16" pressed were they were readily available and very easy to swap out on the road. Most places did not have enclosed bearing hy-rail wheels en mass stock lying around.

Not a cart, but this spiker uses the 6" hy-rail enclosed bearing wheels.

[Philip H]

When I did the infamous 'powered dog cart' I used Railway Express Miniatures wheels leftover from something, I think it it was the tie cart:



Anyway, as you can see, between the tie crane, tie cart and old Fairmont, there are some pretty nice cast dinky wheels there.



What I want is something that small that actually is a decent wheel, and I'd be doing stuff this size that ran that wasn't a spoof.  The motor isn't the problem - wheels are.  Watch gears will do that part.

Where did you get the two tiny motors in your pics?  One or both might be a great match for a project I have for early next year.

[DKS]

There are now loads of sources for pager motors, and tiny gears are becoming easier to find. The first block of links on the following web page just scratches the surface.

http://jamesriverbranch.net/links.htm

[up1950s]

These are HO Hy-Rail add on's but may be useful as N scale cart wheels . I ordered some hoping their diameter is smaller than the Z scale wheels .

https://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/247-7009