Intermountain geared wheelsets...dirt collection?

[sizemore]

I did a search of the forum, vaguely remembering a mention of it previous but couldnt find it, apologies in advance. I have 5 of the latest gen Intermountain F-7's doing laps and fighting a dirty wheel issue. I've been running them for weeks to the tune of 5-6 hours per day so definitely broken-in and polished the treads. The behavior is, I typically have to clean the lead units a couple times in a daily session. I don't see this behavior in other manufacturers locomotives, after the initial break-in clean they run for months without issue.

Just trying to make sure I am not nuts and its true that Intermountain geared wheelsets collect dirt for some mystery science reason? Also wondering if the solution is to switch to an Atlas geared wheelset?

Thanks,
The S.

[garethashenden]

The solution is to switch to Kato wheels.

[peteski]

Yes, Kato wheels is the ideal solution.

I have noticed, in the latest run it IM F-units that the wheels are made differently than in the past.  Unlike in the past (and the way Kato and most similar design wheels are made where a separate steel axle pressed into the wheels) the wheel and axle are now machined from a single piece of brass.  While nothing is inherently wrong with that design, it will not allow for adjusting axle length, and I noticed that the pointy axle does not seem to extend far enough to fully sit in the truck's axle cup. This can cause the wheel face to rub against the sideframe metal bearing/pickups.

I just mentioned all that because that might mean that the wheels are made by another contractor and the actual metal and wheel blackening solution they use is probably different.

[sizemore]

Yeah I know I can go through the process to press Kato axles, just looking for confirmation I wasn't nuts that others are seeing the same issue (specifically with Intermountain) and I can use Atlas as a quick fix until I get-to-it with the Kato axles.

I do agree with the axle cups observation, on Atlas stuff I usually have to clean the cups towards the end of the break-in period, the IM F-unit cups were clean after the break-in period.

Thanks,
The S.

[peteski]

I should have also added that newer Atlas models also use wheels similar to IM (single piece wheel/axle) and I also observed that the flange profiles inconsistent.  Their likely share the same factory for producing their models (as it was noted in the past that many Atlas and IM components appear identical).