Track and wheel physics

Okay, in real life I understand the top of the rail has a crown on it, and the wheels are tapered and I understand the physics of why, but is any of that working on HO trains? I have looked, I guess a better magnifying glass might help, but I don't see it on the rails, maybe the wheels.

Reply to
Big_Al
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Yes, the model rail also has a "crown" and the engine and car wheels are flanged. The flanges on the models are larger (scale-wise) than on the prototypes. My trains are N-scale and these features are easy to see; HO should be even easier.

-- Bill McCutcheon

Reply to
Bill McCutcheon

Bill McCutcheon said this on 2/16/2009 3:33 PM:

I'm going to step out on a limb then. There was a long thread here about track cleaners, and I read up on the concept via some google searches, and found some cars that seemed to be an abrasive cleaner. Not harsh, but all the same. So wouldn't that take the crown of the top of the rails after a good time? I guess a cloth pad type cleaner would be better then?

Reply to
Big_Al

Relevant anecdote: In North Bay, Ontario, there is a motel called the Pinewood. It has a nice display layout (about 15ft x 5ft) in a glassed-in cabinet located in the hallway between the main building and the event rooms. You push a button, and the trains run for about 5 minutes. Just about everybody that walks by pushes that button. ;-) I estimate that the trains run an average of 4 hours, perhaps more, each day.

The local MRR club maintains it. I chatted with them about maintenance. They told me a) that the track in the end curves had to be replaced after about 10 years because the railhead had worn down to the web; b) that wheels occasionally have to be replaced because the tread has worn to a concave profile; c) that there is a wide variation in durability of motors and gear trains, with Kato and Kato-built Atlas at the top of the list, and Chinese-built Atlas and Proto 2000 a distant second. They hadn't run ancient Athearn in a long time, but they were tough as a Mack truck.

Worth a visit. The dining room offers has very good food, too. ;-)

HTH

wolf k.

Reply to
Wolf K

Nothing lasts forever. Everything wears out eventually. As Wolf K. points out, years of running (and cleaning) will wear out track and wheels. This applies to motors, lights, power supplies, and everything else. If you're lucky, most of it will outlive you, though. :-)

-- Bill McC.

Reply to
Bill McCutcheon

Big_Al skriver:

No fluid cleaners for My rails - thanks.

On "my" layout we have been running with Eoco clean cars for 13 years now in very intensive traffic. 6 cleaning cars is running every opening day (thats more than 100 days per year). Despite the cleaning cars are "rubing" the tracks, we see no wear of the rail.

Klaus

Reply to
Klaus D. Mikkelsen

Most of my (European) rolling stock has RP25 profile tapered wheels. One brand (Kleinbahn) has metal wheels with flat treads that run on my ME code 70 track so they're at the lower end of my list for replacing. The theory is of course that the tread coning keeps rolling stock centered over the rails. I really can't see any difference.

What is obvious is that on some turnouts (Peco code 100 dead frog specifically) the treads will link the running rail with the switched out rail across the frog and cause a loco on the dead section to jump noticably.

The fillet between the tread and the flange most definitely has a major effect on running. On my earliest (Marklin) wheel conversions I trimmed flange rear, flange height and then flange shape, leaving the sharp angle between tread and flange. These wheels didn't stay on the track nearly as well as the proper RP25 shape.

Greg.P. NZ

Reply to
Greg.Procter

Perhaps you need new glasses?

Reply to
Erik Olsen

Erik Olsen skriver:

Nope. You are more than welcome to come and have a look....

Klaus

Reply to
Klaus D. Mikkelsen

I have seen track worn down by use, not cleaning, as the wear was mostly on the inside of the head of the outside rail in curves. It was O gauge brass rail, the oldest rail about 50 years old then, and the layout was run about once a week for three hours. The rail on that layout was not cleaned by abrasive means at all, only by using cleaning fluid on a piece of cloth.

Reply to
Erik Olsen

Titanium coated magnesium/steel wears very slowly in Z scale! ;-)

Greg.P.

Reply to
Greg.Procter

Don't think I'll need to spend much time worrying about that. My DOB

18 Nov. 1933. Roe
Reply to
Roe Thomas

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