Athearn F7-B Dummy - Wheel Size Question

Greetings,
I am assembling a B&O diesel trainset using drawbar connections. It will be an A-B-A with the two A-units powered, and the B unit not powered. Since my railroad is on deferred maintenance and an economy wave, I am using Athearn Blue-Box F units, and they are of the Superpower type. The A units have a very large weight casting. The B unit does not. I am weighting that with a nice, low center of gravity to avoid stringlining. Unfortunately, I do not like the plastic wheels on the B unit. I would like to replace them with metal wheels. I am also thinking of using the B-unit as some sort of power-pickup car for other applications. It would be nice not to have to replace the truck assemblies. Can someone tell me the correct size, and perhaps who makes metal replacements? (Intermountain? Proto?). I would be very appreciative of any advice you can offer.
Thanks,
-- tbone Visit The Janis Center Railroad Club, Columbus, Ohio www.janisjunction.org

North West Shortline makes the 40" wheels. If you want power pick up, however, you will have to replace the trucks because they are all plastic. See if you can find a dead powered unit somewhere and either exchange bodies or the trucks. If you take the trucks, they should have the proper wheels and power pickups.

On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:09:51 -0400, "Frank A. Rosenbaum"
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Actually you should replace all the wheels on both the A and B units with the NWSL ones Frank recommended.

You could order the trucks with wheels from athearn or your local HS. part # front is 42010 rear is 42020, list is $8.25 each.
tbone wrote:
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