Driver wheel terminology

Hi,

I am new and am considering to order some HO Bowser metal wheels to replace the original plastic on my Revell Hudson steam engine but having difficulty in understanding the terminology on catalog. I would be grateful if somebody can help to explain the following:-

1) Does "pox pox" means maunsell? 2) What's the differences amongst "light", "medium" and "heavy" wheels? 3) What is meant by "blind" and "flanged"?

Thanks.

CFF

Reply to
CFF
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It's Boxpok, and it's a name for a propriety cast wheel with a box section spoke, hence the name. As you are obviously familiar with UK railways, they are similiar in appearance to the wheels on Bulleid's 4-6-2s.

Don't know.

A blind driving wheel is one without a flange.

Reply to
Mark Newton

This usually refers to the size of the counterweight. On a typical 2-8-2, the light would be used as the 1st and 4th driver, the medium as the 2nd driver, and the heavy as the 3rd or main driver to which the main rods (and side rods like the others) were attached. GQ

Reply to
Geezer

Okay in reverse order, blind wheels have no flange, flanged wheels have what may be described as a raised lip on the inside edge. Light, medium and heavy is just Bowser's way of describing the size of counterweight fitted to the wheel. Boxpock wheels are wheels with a cast center with either ovoid or circular holes in them rather than the traditional spoke wheel. Hope this helps.

regards Chuck

Reply to
Charles Emerson

Hi:

Bowser's drivers are excellent. Terminology may be confusing at first.

  1. Box-Pok is pronounced "box spoke" referring to a later development to strengthen drivers. Basically it is a disc with large, rounded triangular holes to reduce weight as opposed to radially spaced spokes. These were relatively rare in the latter days of steam.

  1. Light, medium and heavy refer to the crescent shaped, counter weight boxes used to balance side and main rods. Normally light were used on first and last pairs of drivers to counterbalance only single ends of side rods. Medium were used in the inside drivers where rods extended to both sides. While heavy were used on the drivers where the main rod connects. A six driver set would have light at ends and either a medium or heavy in the center dependent on weight of main rods. An eight or more set would have light at ends, medium on drivers between them and heavy on the main rod driver. A look at some prototype pictures will help visualize their placement.

  2. Lacking flanges, blind drivers have flat treads which press only on the top of railhead. In both the prototype and models, this permits negotiating sharper curves with longer rigid wheel bases. Placement varied with application .

Replacing drivers will require moving gear to new axle. Before attacking problem, you might want to read the items on regearing, removing and mounting drivers on the first site below.

Hope this helps.

Thank you,

Budb

Author of:

MODELRAILROAD TECHNICAL INFORMATION

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PROTOTYPE TECHNICAL INFO FOR MODELRAILROADERS

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MR TECHNICAL HELP GROUP

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COUPLER HELP GROUP

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Reply to
budb

No. Box Pox was a wheel made of two sheet metal pressings welded together to make a locomotive driver lighter than the conventional cast spoked type. Instead of the "V" openings all around the wheel center there are round or rounded openings.

Different patterns of pressings.

The flange is the guiding piece behind the tyre. "Blind" wheels are flangeless.

Regards, Greg.P.

Reply to
Gregory Procter

Gregory Procter wrote: >

Boxpok wheels are cast, not pressed. I seriously doubt that a pressed wheel centre would be robust enough for use on a steam locomotive.

Reply to
Mark Newton

The name was Boxpok, with no hyphen, to emphasise the box section spoke and rim construction, as opposed to the usual solid type. They were a product of General Steel Castings, well known for their one-piece cast engine beds.

They were relatively rare UNTIL the later days of steam. A quick glance at the 1947 loco cyclopedia shows the majority of large modern steam locos had Boxpoks, or similar wheels manufactured by L.F.M. or Scullin. They were also a popular choice for trailing wheels.

Reply to
Mark Newton

I understood that the Bulleid wheels were made from two sheet metal pressings welded together. (the person asking the original question had a UK address) My apologies if I am wrong.

Apparently I was also wrong about "light/medium/heavy". There were slightly different designs for different prototype axle/wheel loadings but as was pointed out the model designations related to the size of counterweight.

Regards, Greg.P.

Reply to
Gregory Procter

Might be true for the US built locomotives, not true for the rest of the world. No Garratt's with Boxpok wheels.

Reply to
Terry Flynn

Folks, Box Pok drivers or similar were used on steam locos in Japan, China, Soviet Union and German Demok. Rep., one wonders whether the three latter places had licences to use the design. Australia had a couple of classes so fitted, and the French had their 141 R class from the US. In Britain, the Southern Railway also used a similar design, by Firth Brown, a British steel company. Regards, Bill.

Reply to
William Pearce

"William Pearce" <

AND Canada, don't forget.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

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Reply to
Roger T.

It is true. Do some reading.

Which is what we were discussing.

Wrong.

Irrelevant.

Reply to
Mark Newton

Not all the 141R class had box-pok wheels - I think it was around 400 of 650.

Reply to
Gregory Procter

My point is that not all the 141R class 2-8-2s were built in the U.S., some were built in Canada.

So let's get right team.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

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Reply to
Roger T.

Question for the group, I thought Bowser used to refer to their drivers as "Scullin" but see they are now advertised as Box-Pok. Is this just my faulty memory?

Reply to
Jon Miller

Scullin made steel castings. One design of driver they offered was the "Scullin Disk" type, a more or less smooth disk with a few round holes through it. They may well have made other types too. Among others, some of the NYC 'Hudsons' used "Scullin Disk" drivers. Bowser, for unaccountable reasons, liked this style driver type and offered it on several of their models. This included the UP 'Challenger' 4-6+6-4 where it was utterly incorrect.

Fortunately, Bowser NOW offers the correct type drivers for their 'Challenger'.

Dan Mitchell ==========

J>

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

OK, so where were the approximately 1/3rd of all the 141R locos, with spoked drivers built? (I don't have that information)

Regards, Greg.P.

Reply to
Gregory Procter

I have done some reading, nice editing, a classic quote out of context to distort what I have said. You have not specifed US locomotives in your generaly misleading statement.

The above line was not in your post I replied to, nice try expert.

You mention UK locomotives in an earlier post .

Produce the evidence expert. For example in Australia only one locomotive class used boxpox wheels.

The Garratt is the most common modern articulated large steam design outside North America. Hardly irrelevant, they used spoked driving wheels to the end.

Reply to
Terry Flynn

That's a small number of locomotive types outside North America using boxpox wheels. Only one locomotive class in Australia used boxpox wheels.

Terry Flynn

For HO scale track standards go to

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includes details of HO wagon weight and locomotive tractive effort estimates

Reply to
Terry Flynn

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