Opinion: What brand loco wheels gunk up the fastest?

[randgust]

I haven't had issues with loco wheels gunking but I have had issues with plain old oxidation.

The two worst - bar none - were the Life-Like SW8 (first run) and a Life-Like GP20 that I still have.  Both had blackened wheels.   The SW really drove me nuts as it could just sit in the enginehouse and do nothing, and a couple weeks later it couldn't even move back out under its own power until the wheels were cleaned.    Then it was fine again.  But it still drove me nuts enough as an unreliable yard switcher until recleaned that I junked the entire mechanism and replaced it with a Kato NW2 and I've never had the problem again over the exact same track.  So there.

The GP20 has the same issues; it can run and run and run, park it for a couple weeks and you'll have to push it out of storage until the treads polish back up and then it's completely reliable.  I blame the wheel metallurgy.  The tradeoff is that it still have better tractive effort than a similar weight Atlas GP, which I think has a much 'slipperier' wheel (harder).   The best combination of wheel adhesion and non-corrosion properties still is Kato.  Never have to touch them.

I have several locomotives that have the plating completely worn off the treads, and they don't cause issues worth noting, other than they pull much better after that happens.   Old Trix stuff was notorious for about doubling TE when that happened.

Now for car wheels - I'm probably 90% MT pizza-cutters, and the gunk problem is terrible to where I bought an ultrasonic cleaner and just keep swapping wheels.  The metal wheels in testing  do marginally better, but anything that requires electrical pickup like my caboose fleet with constant lighting needs at least an annual cleaning.

[tehachapifan]

I haven't had issues with loco wheels gunking but I have had issues with plain old oxidation.

The two worst - bar none - were the Life-Like SW8 (first run) and a Life-Like GP20 that I still have.  Both had blackened wheels.   The SW really drove me nuts as it could just sit in the enginehouse and do nothing, and a couple weeks later it couldn't even move back out under its own power until the wheels were cleaned.    Then it was fine again.  But it still drove me nuts enough as an unreliable yard switcher until recleaned that I junked the entire mechanism and replaced it with a Kato NW2 and I've never had the problem again over the exact same track.  So there.

The GP20 has the same issues; it can run and run and run, park it for a couple weeks and you'll have to push it out of storage until the treads polish back up and then it's completely reliable.  I blame the wheel metallurgy.  The tradeoff is that it still have better tractive effort than a similar weight Atlas GP, which I think has a much 'slipperier' wheel (harder).   The best combination of wheel adhesion and non-corrosion properties still is Kato.  Never have to touch them.

I have several locomotives that have the plating completely worn off the treads, and they don't cause issues worth noting, other than they pull much better after that happens.   Old Trix stuff was notorious for about doubling TE when that happened.

Now for car wheels - I'm probably 90% MT pizza-cutters, and the gunk problem is terrible to where I bought an ultrasonic cleaner and just keep swapping wheels.  The metal wheels in testing  do marginally better, but anything that requires electrical pickup like my caboose fleet with constant lighting needs at least an annual cleaning.

I may have used the term "gunk" maybe a little too freely with my previous reply, where I agree it could sometimes be oxidation. What I meant was my wheel treads that have a brass color (and typically a dull finish at time of trouble) require much more frequent cleaning than do my wheel treads with a shiny, silver colored finish (which tend to stay shiny). I will also experience the problem of a loco with brassy wheels working fine when last used but will hardly run after a period of simply sitting, until I clean the wheels again.

Also, I've also come to the conclusion that, often times, one layout operator's good, clean running is unacceptable to another. So, it's hard to know if we're all talking apples to apples sometimes. I base this on a number of videos I've seen posted where the train is set pretty fast (probably because it has to be) and the locos are sputtering along with the headlights flickering away like crazy...and I'm left to assume the operator is happy with that. They proudly posted a video of it, after all. For me, even one slight headlight flicker (or sound stutter) over, say, a 20 or 30 minute period is no good (I'm not saying I'm better than these folks....it just makes me nuts!). I don't put caps in my sound locos and, therefore, track and wheels need to be (and stay) very clean...especially when running a sound-equipped switcher at slow speeds. My layout is in a non-climate-controlled garage, so this can be extra challenging. Switching rolling stock to metal wheels and retiring brassy-colored loco wheels seems to help.

All this said, I remember someone posting quite a while ago that he wanted to trade all his shiny, silver-colored wheels for dull, brass-colored ones. I think he found that the brassy ones had better traction.

[peteski]

. . .
I don't put caps in my sound locos and, therefore, track and wheels need to be (and stay) very clean...especially when running a sound-equipped switcher at slow speeds. My layout is in a non-climate-controlled garage, so this can be extra challenging. Switching rolling stock to metal wheels and retiring brassy-colored loco wheels seems to help.
. . .

You re-plate the treads?  How do you do it?
Sounds to me like you might benefit from retrofitting the new Kato wheelsets to your locos with plated brass wheels.  Maybe just one loco to try them out?  Those wheelsets fit a wide range of models from several manufacturers (often with just a slight axle length modification, or even without modification).  We have a lengthy thread about this retrofit.

[tehachapifan]

You re-plate the treads?  How do you do it?
Sounds to me like you might benefit from retrofitting the new Kato wheelsets to your locos with plated brass wheels.  Maybe just one loco to try them out?  Those wheelsets fit a wide range of models from several manufacturers (often with just a slight axle length modification, or even without modification).  We have a lengthy thread about this retrofit.

No, I haven't developed a way to re-plate treads. I have, indeed, been starting to replace some of them with the Kato wheelsets when they'll fit. The whole wheelset won't work on, say, the older LL switchers as the axle gear is offset differently. I haven't had a lot of luck pulling wheels out of axles and inserting new ones, as I've ended up with wobbly wheelsets. I know this has been the subject of discussions before and I know folks have had success using pullers for this, but I don't have anything set up like that.

[peteski]

No, I haven't developed a way to re-plate treads. I have, indeed, been starting to replace some of them with the Kato wheelsets when they'll fit. The whole wheelset won't work on, say, the older LL switchers as the axle gear is offset differently. I haven't had a lot of luck pulling wheels out of axles and inserting new ones, as I've ended up with wobbly wheelsets. I know this has been the subject of discussions before and I know folks have had success using pullers for this, but I don't have anything set up like that.

The retrofit I'm talking about doesn't involve pulling out and replacing half-axles in the wheels.  The Kato gear is the correct size and pitch (and located in the right place) to be a drop-in retrofit.  The only problem is that the axle ends on Kato wheels protrude a bit more (than Atlas for example) from the wheel face. The procedure used is just to push the half-axles slightly inwards.

[tehachapifan]

The retrofit I'm talking about doesn't involve pulling out and replacing half-axles in the wheels.  The Kato gear is the correct size and pitch (and located in the right place) to be a drop-in retrofit.  The only problem is that the axle ends on Kato wheels protrude a bit more (than Atlas for example) from the wheel face. The procedure used is just to push the half-axles slightly inwards.

Right. I think you may be reading me replies a little too quickly.

[peteski]

Right. I think you may be reading me replies a little too quickly.

You're right. Duh! 
I'll blame it on the holiday rush (even though that is a lame excuse).