Hi-rail wheels Scale-wheels ?

Hi-rail wheels are designed to be compatible with the old tubular track and turnouts. They have a wider, angled tread and larger flanges Scale wheels are designed for the 2-rail track and turnouts and have smaller flanges and narrower wheel tread with a slight angle (NMRA Recommended Practice #RP-25.) In your case, scale wheels will work on Gargraves, Atlas, MTH ScaleTrax, and MTH ScaleTrax since the rail involved has a flat top like 2-rail track subject to your curve sizes. You'll need at least a 36" radius (O-72) to run scale-wheeled equipment reliably and larger curves (42" radius/O-84 and above) for larger locomotives. Interestingly enough, with easements I was able to get scale-wheeled Atlas 89-foot trailer flats through a 36" radius (O-72) curve on the layout -- go figure.

That said, however, scale wheels will have issues with 3-rail turnouts. The wider frogs will cause scale wheels to "dip" when they pass through the frog. That's usually not too problematic, but if backing a car through a curve-replacement (O-72, etc.) turnout, the car will likely derail because the curve extends through the frog whereas a #5 turnout (11-degree) has a straight frog and the wheel dips, but usually doesn't derail.

I run quite a few scale-wheeled locomotives and cars at the club (much to the dismay of some members, but to the delight of "The Apprentice") and the 4-axle diesels (and the Blue Goose Hudson) seem to do OK (and I have the videos to prove it.) All the mainline turnouts are #5's except for one #8 curved turnout which had a frog so big that we put a "frog point" into it to support scale wheels. The six-axle diesels have a tendency to find the bad track work (high/low spots) and one of the trucks will often derail in different places. Scale-wheeled rolling stock seems to do alright.

Another issue that will arise is train loading. Longer scale-wheeled trains will sometimes have the lead cars "pull off" on some curves if there's too much weight behind them, the curve is too sharp or there are multiple curves involved (increases tension on the train.) So I keep my trains a little shorter when running scale wheeled cars.

Bottom line is that you need big enough curves, #5 turnouts and even track work.

Hope this helps.

Thank you Matt

This helps very much,

 I only have one steam engine a 0-4-0 with scale wheels and see first hand the dip when running through the frog in the turnout wish I could put Hi-wheels on it.

Thank you,

rudy

If you're mechanically inclined, you can put a "frog point" into the turnout like we did here:

We used a second Tortoise motor tied to the main point motor to throw it. Here's a scale-wheeled train running through it:

Very smooth!

I think for me I can put Hi-rail wheels on my steamer and just stay with Hi-rail wheels, then no need to rework all my turnouts.

WOW what a nice layout what is the size of the room?

Thanks

rudy    

That's what I'd do.

Changing out wheels on a steam locomotive is normally difficult and expensive, even on an 0-4-0. You might be able to get the tires removed from the drivers and replaced with tires with larger flanges and a slightly wider tread. You might check on the 2-rail forum to see if someone can do the work.

An easier option might be to track down another 0-4-0 with hi-rail wheels and sell the scale-wheeled one, or change over to 2-rail track and turnouts. Hard call.

As for the club layout, thanks for the compliment. The overall layout space is 105' x 20'. The main visitor viewing area is about 80'x20'