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I bought several packages (12 axels per pack) of the Intermountain 28" wheel sets for my auto racks. I still need three more packs.
I've searched the internet, no such thing anymore. I see Kadee, Exact Rail and JB Wheel sets are available but I'm not sure if they will fit the freight trucks I was able to put the Intermountain wheels in.
I tried another set of wheels years ago and found that they were just a bit to small for the standard truck but I don't recall whose wheel that was. I'm sure if I just pick one and order a few of them, I would be picking the one that doesn't fit.
Can anyone else confirm what matches the wheel axel size and length of Intermountain 28" wheel set?
i had the same problem with a large set of front range spine cars that used 28 inch wheels ..unfortunately they were just left missing two axles and put away as they didn't match the layout era [1890]
Kadee provided an actual measurement, point to point of the wheel sets. I placed an order for a few packs of them with YankeeDabbler.
So I am guessing that since Kadee provide the correct measurment, you purchased their wheel sets?
Yep, should be here by Christmas.
Yep, should be here by Christmas.
I see TrainLife and White Rose hobbies has the Kadee's in stock.
Heck, my next door neighbor could have em in stock but it will still take until Christmas if he ships them to me. Have you not been paying attention to the supply chain lately? Whenever ole Pete gets back to work from his maternity leave, he might try to figure something out.
Must be where you live then. I get my orders in 3-4 days.
In my doing's with rolling stock, and changing out wheel sets, I found that I needed a variety of axle lengths.
What I had come up with on axle lengths, (this was a couple of years ago,).........
--Intermountain= 0.97"
--JB= 1.020"
--Athearn (long axle)= 1.020-.025"
--Kadee= 1.013"
--Reboxx= 0.995" thru 1.060"
That was the neat thing about Reboxx, they had a lot of different lengths, bought about all I could find back then........don't know about now.
Just tried going on Reboxx site, .....and things don't seem to be working?
Reboxx has gone out of business at last report
Such a shame, .....the number of these businesses that are leaving us
Days Gone Bye!
Staff member
Such a shame, .....the number of these businesses that are leaving us
Darnit! I had heard really good things about Reboxx too!
Been Nothin' Since Frisco
Exactrail.com has 28" wheels in stock with an axle length of 1.002". They also make Barber 70-ton lowboy trucks with the proper axle spacing for the trucks used under autoracks and low deck flatcars. An alternative to ExactRail's Barber trucks - if you can find them separately - is Athearn's Impack spine car truck.
I have a bunch of Walthers trilevel autoracks and I've replaced the trucks with either the ExactRail Barber trucks or the Athearn Impack trucks. I used the Walthers wheelsets in the Impack trucks since the cars already came with metal wheels.
On one set of my Athearn Impack cars I've installed Kadee wheels and another has Intermountain wheels. There is less side-to-side slop in the car equipped with Kadee wheels than the car equipped with Intermountain wheels. Both of those cars have the standard Impack trucks that came with the kits.
If you model the mid 90s and later, you might be interested in swing motion trucks for your autoracks. TrailerTrain conducted a large study and determined swing motion trucks greatly reduced truck hunting at high speeds resulting in less damage to their equipment and the loads so a large scale truck replacement program was undertaken. Bowser makes a six spring pack swing motion truck with 33" wheels for their RoadRailers which can also be found on some autoracks. The eight spring pack version seems to be more common on autoracks though. From trackside the six spring pack version looks like two widely spaced springs with a gap between them. The eight spring pack version is the same but with a third spring between the two set inside the truck a bit. Of course the 28" wheel version has a narrower axle spacing than the 33" wheel version which is set at the standard 68 inches.
I wanted some of these trucks so I 3D printed them. Here's the 28" wheel version of National's swing motion trucks:
Six spring pack 33" wheel version (Bowser also makes this truck, but this example is 3D printed):
And the 3D printed eight spring pack version:
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