I'm a Yank and haven't been able to figure this one out. My son and I have some Hornby Thomas engines and coaches. Are there any insulated wheel sets available to help for interior lighting in the coaches? If so, where are they available? Thanks in advance for any help.
What you want is metal wheel, right? That's a problem, AFAIK, there are none that duplicate the Hornby wheel profile, but if that's mot an issue, then fit any wheels that are close to the correct size. Hornby have recently begun to upgrade their wheels to more or less international standards, so they may have something available now. Walthers catalog lists a few, Northwest Shortlines make a wide selection. You may have to do something about different axle-lengths though. I haven't done the conversion you envision, but IIRC Hornby uses rather short axles.
A supplier of scale OO wheels for many Hornby etc stuff is Romford. Google "Romford wheels". I just did, and decided you can search through the hits yoruself. :-)
A final alternative is to fit rail sliders instead of wheel wipers.
Hornby have been doing metal wheels to a reasonably fine profile for a while now. Types available (all 12mm diameter with pin-point axles) are spoked,
3-hole disc and disc. There may also be a 14mm diameter-can't remember if the ones I bought were Hornby or Bachmann. Price is in the region of £3.25 for ten axles for the Hornby ones. Brian
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