I bought several Bachman Silver Series freight cars at a train show recently and when I opened the boxes I noticed that the seller had done a switcheroo substituting plastic wheels for the metal ones that come with this series and also the trucks were badly deformed as if someone tried to "alter" them. What I would like to know is what is a reasonable replacement set for this series. I am talking about 2 & 4 bay hopper cars.
I looked in the Bachmann catalog to see if they sell trucks, but didn't see any. They do sell wheel sets, however. If you have access to a Walthers HO catalog, you'll see that everyone from A to W (Atlas to Walthers) makes trucks. The majority are plastic, some with metal wheels. My personal favorites are Kadee. They're metal and fully equalized (they have springs and can flex) which supposedly makes them less prone to derail on imperfect track, and they are very free rolling, but they are a little pricey. Hope this helps
OldTimer
subman-
Boy, I could have some fun with your screen name!
Also check ebay but buy very carefully. Some folks do a switcheroo or
show photos of just some of a large group of trucks and the ones not
shown turn out to be duds. Caveat emptor.
-- D
Walthers and search for "freightcar trucks".
There are many good quality replacement trucks on the market that will do for your cars.
Bachmann wheel sets are great value and fit the widest variety of older HO cars I have found. Does anyone know why the 33" and 36" wheels sets are not available in economy packs of 36 or more?
Quote from: bachwolf on February 16, 2011, 05:42:28 AM
Bachmann wheel sets are great value and fit the widest variety of older HO cars I have found. Does anyone know why the 33" and 36" wheels sets are not available in economy packs of 36 or more?
Personally I only use Intermountain wheelsets, except the few oddball axle lengths and end types I get from Reboxx. They have metal axles, as well as metal wheels which are insulated on one side. This makes it very easy to use them when using Miniatronics lighting kits for passenger cars and cabeese.
You can get Intermountain 33" & 36" wheels in bulk packs of 100 from Walthers. Part numbers from Walthers are 85-40055 for the 33" and 85-40056 for the 36", both are currently in stock.
Len
How do you know what size your cars take? and how do you measure that?
Passenger cars are usually 36" and most freight cars are usually 33".
Here is what you can use as a general rule of thumb
Up to 77 Ton Capacity - 33" wheels
100 Ton Capacity Cars - 36" wheels
Over 100 Ton Capacity - 38" wheels
Intermodal cars - 28" wheels
Articulated cars 38" or 28" wheels
thank you it just clicked in my head. of what the measurements are thank you for the info