Steel wheels on rolling stock...Who makes 'em?


Night Train

Night Train

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Which manufacturers besides Kato use steel wheels instead of plastic?

I've very pleased with the steel wheels on the Kato rolling stock I've purchased so far and intend to only purchase that kind from now on. I'm just not sure which manufacturers sell them.

Thanks for any advice.
 
Since I model HO and not N scale, I can't offer any firsthand experience to answer your question. However, a google search turned up this link to the MB Klein web site where they show two different brands of N scale metal wheels - Fox Valley and Intermountain. Scroll further down that page and you'll also see some metal wheelsets made by Athearn.
 
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Thanks for your research and reply...I appreciate it.

I should have been more specific in my original post. I'm actually looking for rolling stock that comes equipped with steel wheels already installed like the Kato brand of rolling stock. Which manufacturers provide that?
 
You're right. I should have said, "metal wheels" instead of "steel wheels."

Anything other than plastic wheels.

I'm still learning.
 
Easiest way to find out, especially if you're looking through websites such as modeltrainstuff.com (MBKlein's) is read the specifications that they provide when you go to the full listing. In general, cheap brand lines (and most manufacturers do several levels of quality) will have plastic, dearer will have metal.
 
Today I emailed FVM for info about the 2 styles of N wheelsets they sell. They were quick to respond. One is more prototypical narrow tread design & the other is slightly wider. Said the wider ones work on anything & the narrower ones have to have the track work spot on. Has to do with where it passes the frog. They suggested to get a small quantity of each & test them before making a large purchase. (natch) Both the same price, from one internet seller for $55.99/100. Means I'm going to have to spend around $600 to do all my rolling stock. Wish they had a 1,000 price. If it's true, as some claim, they work much better than plastic wheelsets. I'll be giving it a try soon.
 
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Your best bet is to check carefully........for example Fox Valley makes metal wheels, and their passenger cars come with metal, but all the boxcars I have came with plastic wheels. Same with Kato.......metal on the passenger, plastic on the freight.......I don't have a lot of Kato freight, but everything I have is plastic. One of the culprits, is a lot of the smaller companies use Microtrains trucks and MT uses plastic wheels. Atlas is also exclusively plastic. Steel wheels definitely roll better, but if you only buy rolling stock that come with steel, you're cutting your available options by about 80%. Buy what you want, then add steel wheels to the cars that don't come with them.
 
The majority of my rolling stock is Atlas, with maybe 60 or so MTL and the remaining a mix of Bachman, Roundhouse, Con-Cor, Minitrix and a few others I can't remember off hand. I don't know what I was thinking, but right after x-mas, I went nuts & bought 10 Sp & UP engines & about 200 misc rolling stock, along with enough Peco C55 track to get a good start on my first layout. I already know the wiring is going to make me pull my hair out. I'm hoping I get some help when it comes time for that.
 
shorttimer said:
The majority of my rolling stock is Atlas, with maybe 60 or so MTL and the remaining a mix of Bachman, Roundhouse, Con-Cor, Minitrix and a few others I can't remember off hand. I don't know what I was thinking, but right after x-mas, I went nuts & bought 10 Sp & UP engines & about 200 misc rolling stock, along with enough Peco C55 track to get a good start on my first layout. I already know the wiring is going to make me pull my hair out. I'm hoping I get some help when it comes time for that.
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Wow! Thats a lot of equipment!

About that wiring....

Since you are starting a new layout, be sure to use DCC to power your layout. It is SO much easier and more fun to use than the standard DC and block wiring systems of old. You'll be able to run multiple trains at the same time depending on the size of your layout and only need to wire up just one or maybe two connections on the whole layout, again depending on its size.

If you haven't already, check it out! Let us know how it goes.
 
But don't you have to do special wiring for reverse loops, sidings, signals & the like? If it does, I know I'll not be alone when the wiring starts.
 
There's a reversing module you wire up where the reversing loop ends and it automatically and instantaneously reverses polarity. Really slick.

As far as the turnouts are concerned, I decided to go with the standard Atlas snap switches controlled from my control panel of buttons all powered by a standard power pack you can see just a corner of in the lower part of the pic. Here's a pic:


2014-02-09+11.43.17.jpg


I went this direction because with my layout, I often need to make switches in sequence one right after another and it's just faster to make those changes this way instead of through my wireless handheld MRC Prodigy controller. I'm sure there are ways to automate all the switching to accommodate all the possible routes I have available, but that's a whole other level of electrical complexity and expense I'm going to leave alone.
 
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MRLdave said:
Same with Kato.......metal on the passenger, plastic on the freight.......I don't have a lot of Kato freight, but everything I have is plastic.
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That may be true for some Kato equipment, but all of the Kato stuff I've purchased recently, (Maxi-well intermodal units and the coal-carrier cars) all have metal wheels. I've found that Kato quality is top-notch but your track work had better be very well done.
 
MRLdave said:
Your best bet is to check carefully........for example Fox Valley makes metal wheels, and their passenger cars come with metal, but all the boxcars I have came with plastic wheels. Same with Kato.......metal on the passenger, plastic on the freight.......I don't have a lot of Kato freight, but everything I have is plastic. One of the culprits, is a lot of the smaller companies use Microtrains trucks and MT uses plastic wheels. Atlas is also exclusively plastic. Steel wheels definitely roll better, but if you only buy rolling stock that come with steel, you're cutting your available options by about 80%. Buy what you want, then add steel wheels to the cars that don't come with them.
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Not *quite* right, actually, as far as what comes with what. I have Atlas coil cars that have blackened metal wheels, and Fox Valley coalporters with blackened metal. So it's not a passenger/freight thing as far as what gets metal wheels, and Atlas is at least tentatively starting to offer metal on some things. One interesting thing is that both of those that I'm thinking about off the top of my head have BODY-mounted couplers. So that may be the difference right there, where they're putting metal wheels on those trucks without couplers but still using the plastic on cars that have truck-mounted couplers. Whether there's an engineering reason for that or they're just using up a stockpile of already on-hand coupler-type trucks? Who knows.
 
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All of my atlas cars have metal wheels.
The last few years I've become a fan of Exactrail. Very detailed and come with Kadee's pre mounted.
 
hamltnblue said:
All of my atlas cars have metal wheels.
The last few years I've become a fan of Exactrail. Very detailed and come with Kadee's pre mounted.
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Are you sure you're talking about N-scale? I've seen only a small sampling of Atlas that have metal wheels, and aren't Kadee couplers an HO thing?
 
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