Are there better wheels for 3 Rail Scale freight cars?

MTH has some "in between" wheels on some of their 2-rail/3-rail switchable units.  I don't know if they have any on rolling stock.  As you have discovered, 2-rail scale wheels don't do most 3-rail switches well, I know they don't handle Atlas or Gargraves all that well, and I'm sure they'd be bad on Fastrack and tubular as well.

One of my club members stated that he has used 2 rail wheels on Lionel's Fastrack with some success. I guess it depends on who's 2 rail wheels he's using.

I some times buy out of production 2 rail scale Atlas, InterMountain, etc and rather than replacing the entire truck, which sometimes requires shimming and trimming, I would like to just replace the wheel sets and keep the Kadee couplers. 

I'm just surprised that someone has not come up with wheel replacements that have a flange size between 2 rail and 3 rail for us 3 rail scale guys. I can tolerate the larger flanges from MTH, Lionel, KLine, etc. 

I choose to go with 3 rail scale rather than 2 rail "just because". 

RAY

Unfortunately if you're looking for reliablity as in no derailments, the 3 rail flanges are the best for that. I tried 2 rail wheels from Atlas, MTH, and NWSL and eneded up back at the 3 rail sets.

Ray of sunshine posted:

My home and club layout is built with Gragraves track and Ross switches. I really don't like the look of the standard large flange wheels. I have tried using 2 rail wheels, but I find that they don't handle Ross switches very well, often dropping down and derailing. 

I wonder if someone has ever made wheels that have a slightly larger flange than the standard 2 rail wheels, but smaller than the 3 rail large flanges. 

Ray

You have to go "old school" on this one. The early Code 172 wheelsets had a wider tread and a larger flange. You'll still have potential issues backing through curve-replacement turnouts or taking them at high speed, though, because the curve extends through the frog. As Doug said, the hi-rail wheels are the most reliable through three-rail curved turnouts. Northwest Short Line can probably cut some for you with a .172 tread and a .0625 flange which would probably work better.

I always preferred Weaver 2-Rail wheel sets and/or 2-Rail trucks, for use on our Atlas 3-Rail track. The wheel treads on the Weaver 2-Rail wheels are just a bit wider than any other 2-Rail wheels. My second choice, now that Weaver 2-Rail plain bearing Bettendorf freight trucks are no longer available, would be the MTH 2-Rail plain bearing Bettendorf freight trucks.

If you're using Weaver plastic trucks, the wheels that work very well are the Intermountain 33" metal scale wheels (single-insulated axles). They track much better than the Weaver plastic wheels. For 36" wheels, you have to go Northwest Short Line or get the K-Line wheels if you can find them.