Atlas rerun of BLMA trucks!

[sd45elect2000]

Real wheels are not all the same. There are straight plate and curved plate, currently the straight plate wheels are outlawed. I've been around railroad wheels for 30 years, I'm happy with the ESM wheels.


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[John]

Real wheels are not all the same. There are straight plate and curved plate, currently the straight plate wheels are outlawed.

Someone please explain this for me - what is a straight plate vs curved plate ?

[sd45elect2000]

The plate is the area between the hub and the rim. The shape of the plate area is either straight, curved or sometimes S shaped.

[Wutter]

Additionally, the tire thickness of the 33” wheelset is awfully thick too. This has been commented on before, but I’ll highlight that the 36” wheelset tire thickness is not nearly as thick as the 33” wheelset. Its sort of tricky to accurately measure, but my rough number is .4mm on the 33” wheels and .3mm on the 36” wheels. They are visibly different, and I’m thinking that the 33” tire thickness is much too thick, even for a “brand new” wheel.
I’m not trying to complain about these, they’re great wheels, but it does seem that the 33” wheels might not be quite up to proper spec. At least in the examples I have.

I agree with @turbowhiz on the "tire thickness", the dish profiles on both look great, but its that outer rim thickness on the 33"s that really appears chunky when comparing between the 33" ESM and old 33" BLMA wheels. I marked the dimension in question in the picture below. Is it possible to get that outer OD-ID thickness smaller on the 33" wheels?

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[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  NWSL makes a special bolt for their "Puller" with a hole drilled in the center, just for pushing on pointed axles.  The point goes in the hole, and the bolt pushed against the outer portion of the end cone.

[peteski]

Peteski:  NWSL makes a special bolt for their "Puller" with a hole drilled in the center, just for pushing on pointed axles.  The point goes in the hole, and the bolt pushed against the outer portion of the end cone.

Well, what if you want to press the pointy axle inwards (to increase the gauge)?  Something has apply pressure on the pointy end of the axle?

[MetroRedLine]

I’m a big fan of the ESM wheelsets, they’re definitely a quality product. I have put well over 100 wheelsets into service and they’ve been consistently decent, and in general better then many of the other N scale metal wheelsets I’ve come across. I’ve used both the 33” and the 36” versions.

I do wish the tread was narrower though. They’re pretty wide, noticeably wider than the BLMA wheelsets found on the at least the 100 ton trucks mentioned in this thread. It would be very nice to see a narrower tread akin to the BLMA wheels on the ESM wheelsets.

I have not noticed that with the ESM wheel tread. In fact, I prefer them because they have a narrower tread - granted maybe not as narrow as the old Fox Valley wheels, but certainly narrower than the Tangent Scale Models wheelsets (their tread width is a turn-off) and MUCH narrower than the ExactRail wheelsets (which are otherwise fine wheels, but the tread on those things...YECH!).

[Frank Amato]

Fingers crossed that my LHS gets the 8 pair of 100-ton trucks on my backorder LOL !

  Frank

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's funny, while I was at Lombard last week I was somehow gravitationally attracted to these. I didn't even realize they were hard to come by anymore.

If I had I would've stocked up on more of em!

[nkalanaga]

"Well, what if you want to press the pointy axle inwards (to increase the gauge)?  Something has apply pressure on the pointy end of the axle? "

That's the idea behind the center hole.  It fits over the point, protecting it, while the bolt presses on the outer edge of the cone, near the rim pr the axle.  Works beautifully, I used it when regauging some Nn3 flatcars (ex European standard gauge!)

[peteski]

"Well, what if you want to press the pointy axle inwards (to increase the gauge)?  Something has apply pressure on the pointy end of the axle? "

That's the idea behind the center hole.  It fits over the point, protecting it, while the bolt presses on the outer edge of the cone, near the rim pr the axle.  Works beautifully, I used it when regauging some Nn3 flatcars (ex European standard gauge!)

So it is designed for only a particular diameter axles?  That method can damage the outer diameter of the cone. I prefer leaving the entire cone pristine.

[bbussey]

Fingers crossed that my LHS gets the 8 pair of 100-ton trucks on my backorder LOL !

  Frank

We have plenty of both wheel diameters on hand, as well as the 70-ton ASF Ride Control truck in three colors.

[Frank Amato]

Yes sir @bbussey , I will have an order for 70-ton trucks inbound later this month!

  Frank

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  In that case, I have no idea how one would widen the gauge, without either pushing on the end of the axle, or clamping the axle in something and pulling the wheel out, which risks bending the axle.

[peteski]

Peteski:  In that case, I have no idea how one would widen the gauge, without either pushing on the end of the axle, or clamping the axle in something and pulling the wheel out, which risks bending the axle.

Like I mentioned, inserting a piece of aluminum between the gear puller's ram and the pointed end of the axle should work.  I've been doing this when pushing the half-axles in on Kato wheelsets.