So...other than the obvious, what is the difference or reason for the difference between a Lionel fast angle wheel and the more flat profile wheel?
Is it functional, more/less prototypical, scale or not, etc...?
Just curious...and also wondering about interchange-ability while maintaining coupler height, etc...
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Fast-Angle is an exaggerated version of the slightly conical wheel treads found on full-size railroad wheelsets.
The idea being, since the inner wheel has to travel a shorter distance than the outer wheel when the wheelset encounters a curve, the assembly pushes outward, exposing a smaller wheel diameter to the inside rail and a larger diameter on the outside one.
Postwar Lionel didn't have this feature since the wheels weren't fixed to the axle and each could rotate independently of the other (but the whole package didn't roll anywhere near as well).
---PCJ
I remember studying, devouring, and committing to memory Lionel's explanation of "fast angle" wheels as laid out in either the 1970 or 1971 catalogs ... as only a 10 or 11-year old boy could ...
@Serenska posted:I remember studying, devouring, and committing to memory Lionel's explanation of "fast angle" wheels as laid out in either the 1970 or 1971 catalogs ... as only a 10 or 11-year old boy could ...
@ADCX Rob: Wow, thanks for reviving the thread.
The above is one of the pieces I remember. There was another that had a diagram of the wheel with arrows showing how the wheelset would transition from the "inner rolling diameter" to an "outer rolling diameter" when going around curves. I have no idea where it was.
What you posted, however, is very much part of the whole story. Thanks for the memory.
Steven J. Serenska
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