The Dime Trick...

Bill,

Yup.  I use a dime, but make sure it's got the proverbial "hair's" width more.  Just make sure there's "wiggle room" and you're OK.  Sometimes the calibrated eyeball comes in handy!    Besides, a gauge that only costs 10¢ can't be all bad!

poniaj posted:

Bill,

Yup.  I use a dime, but make sure it's got the proverbial "hair's" width more.  Just make sure there's "wiggle room" and you're OK.  Sometimes the calibrated eyeball comes in handy!    Besides, a gauge that only costs 10¢ can't be all bad!

Hey Jerry,

As you know I use a scrap piece of ¾” plywood – 23/32”. For me the dime is hard to use. I find the plywood will ‘spread’ Flyer wheel sets and I can also do both wheel sets in the truck at the same time. Can’t comment on the cost, but the scrap is smaller than 3 X 3 so it is probably less the 10¢.  LOL  

Tom Stoltz in Maine

Using a scrap of 3/4” plywood (23/32” or .71875”) is wider than the target amount of .709” by almost 10 thousandths of an inch. If it works for you, that’s great, and it’s probably less costly than even the dime, but when does a “little bit wider” become “too wide”, especially when you are also running finer scale NMRA/NASG wheelsets on the same tracks?

In measuring some of my stock American Flyer cars, I’m finding their gauge seems to vary from .665” to .685”. Strangely, my Atlantic’s drivers were pretty close to the target gauge, but it’s lead trucks, tender, and trailing trucks were more like the freight car wheels. I haven’t checked everything yet, such as my Flyonel cars and my recently issued FlyerChief Berkshires and Northern. The possibility of regauging these locos is a thought I find uncomfortable.

I also haven’t actually checked out my S Helper cars and locos with my calipers, but since they have been operating flawlessly on my layout for several years, I’m working under the theory of “if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it!” My stock classic Flyer cars were coming of the tracks on that layout so frequently that simply I had to do something about it. Up until recently, they had only been run on a couple of loops of SHS S-Trax during the holiday season, and they seemed to be “close enough” for that.

I still have some original AF tubular tracks and switches in storage that I have never used, perhaps someday I have to dig it out and give it a try, just out of curiosity, but I wouldn’t hold out any hopes of satisfactory operation of scale flanges on that track.

Bill in FtL

I use the dime also and it has aided me in identifying lots of problem wheel sets. I have S-helper and American models track. Many Gilbert Flyer cars would jump at the switches and sometimes derail. By checking the wheel spacing I have solved my derailment problems.  However some newer lionel cars have very deep flanges that hit the ties on S-helper track.  I'll probably just file / sand them smaller.