How well do scale wheels on rolling stock run through Ross switches? Thinking about just buying AtlasO 2rail cars in the future unless there are operating issues.
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Well, all I can share is my own experience.
I ran a short train (1 loco + 6 cars) all with scale wheels on our IHMD layout in January. It ran (forward) through all our yards and crossovers without any problems. You do get a bit of a "thunk" when the wheels roll through the frogs, which are designed for the higher flanges, but no derails whatsoever. I ran that train for about 3 hours. No problems.
Having said all that, I'm still not sure how well things would work if I was doing lots of switching with constant forward & reverse moves. How often would things be popping off the rails? The scale flanges seem like they'd be picking the points all the time. No way to tell without trying it over & over for few months to get some real data.
Overall, I plan on continuing to buy 3 rail equipment and add Kadee couplers. However, If I find something I'm interested in and it's 2 rail, I probably won't change out the wheel sets unless that particular car gives me any trouble later.
- RICH
The couple of times I tried scale wheels I got the "thunk" too, but no derailments.
I'd put a shim in each switch to "stop the drop", but then I'd have to change out all the engine wheels so they wouldn't ride up when crossing the shims.
I think at higher speed than I run there would be more of a chance for derailments, but I rarely run my trains over 35 smph.
Interesting results Bob and Rich. I just love the way the scale wheels look over the highrail wheels. If I had known 15 years ago the 2 rail offerings MTH and Kline were going to have I've would of gone 2 rail to begin with. Ohwell, I'll try one or two cars and see what happens.
I've tried the scale wheels on my switching layout. All Gargraves track and Ross switches. Going forward hasn't ever been a problem, but shoving is hit or miss. More often than not, I'd get a derailment when shoving through the switches. For that fact, I decided to stay with 3 rail wheels for the switching layout, because 50% of the time, the cars are being shoved. I still buy 2 rail cars now and then and replace the trucks with the 3 rail versions.
I run scale-wheeled diesels and rolling stock at the club frequently. They do fine through the Ross #5's and a modified Ross #8 curved turnout (frog point added) even during backing moves.
The locomotives have issues with curve-replacement turnouts (O-72) because the curve extends through the frog, but when scale cars are pulled, they will go through a Ross O-72. Backing moves through O-72's are problematic with scale-wheeled cars. In all cases, there's a bit of a wobble when the wheels dip in the three-rail frogs.
I bought a set of Rich Yoder trucks to see how well scale wheels ran through my all-Ross layout. Didn't do so well. Not only did they go thunk in the flog, but they also wandered through it. It was like a quantum mechanical experiment.
I also had purchased an MTH Legacy SD70ace with scale wheels with the idea to change it back to hi-rail wheels, but I tried it on my layout first. It didn't do so well either. I ended up turning that engine back to MTH due to quality problems.
I agree, if I know now about what MTH is producing when I got back into Model RR in '95, I would have gone scale wheels. But I dropped my crystal ball in '94 so I didn't know beans.
Hi Gary,
Yes it will work, as others have said. You can eliminate most derailing issues by raising the guard rails. The stock Ross guard rails sit lower than the running rails, which helps accommodate operating cars with accessory rail slide shoes. Unfortunately they sit lower than is necessary to hold scale flanges under load. Raising the guards rails will prevent the wheels from picking the frog.
