Nearholmer Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) Can I ask the assembled experts to clarify something for me? Triang 0-4-0T and the Dock Authority 4WDS ........ which variants (wheel types?) will run happily on modern Peco Code 100 point-work? Can I tell by looking at the wheels, short of measuring b-t-b and tread profile whether a particular loco is 'good' or 'bad' in this respect? I do own one 'Nellie', the early 1970s pale green No.27 variant, pristine but not run since virtually new. and I think that is OK, and one of my brothers had a Dock Authority 4WDS of the same vintage, which I think was also OK. For my money, small 00 locos have to have X04 motors to count. Might be feeling a swift retro-style piano lines coming on, to use up all the free building kits that I've collected from magazines and which are doing nothing useful in a pile in the study. Many thanks in advance, Kevin Edited December 27, 2019 by Nearholmer 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) For what it is worth, and I know there will be doubters that disagree with me here, but I'm just going to state my factual experience. I'm at present building a code 75 layout, where all the indoor track in the garage - station terminus area and mpd - is laid and most of it wired. However, because it will eventually go through the back wall of the garage and into the garden, it is not yet truly operable as a layout, though I often do run locos over much of it. I have NO trouble with older Triang type wheels at all, and I have quite a few. I admit though to tweaking the b2b - by eye - to get them running ok through tight spots. I have a small number of Lima wheels that did however hit the chairs on code 75 and I've had to replace those. NOTE THAT I SAID CODE 75, which is finer than code 100! Before this layout, my loft layout at the previous house was code 100. At the time I was servicing locos for the local model shops, and had access to many spares (some of which I still have). I learnt to tweak the b2b during that period. The wheels you show are the slightly later "black see-through" type in my parlance, and you should find them ok, maybe needing that tweak. I've had many comments in the past disputing this, but can only say that I managed ok. To this day (almost**) I have a Triang chassis under a Bec J17 kit body that has no problems. The wheels are even a mixture of different ages, from early solid (mazak?) through black see-through type to the later (coarse) plated type, and still with a trusty X04 motor with original 20:1 gears! It was cobbled together from many secondhand bits 30-40 years ago. ** I said almost, but that J17 loco is actually on my workbench as we speak, part way through having a new SEF chassis with finer wheels fitted. Stewart edit. Just to add, the Dock Shunter may have ribbed wheels to aid traction. These can be simply replaced with smooth wheels, much better. Edited December 27, 2019 by stewartingram 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 The key date with Triang wheels standards is 1962. From 1962, both locos and rolling stock were fitted with finer profile wheels which in general work find with code 100 track to normal (i.e. not finescale) tolerances. The wheel standards were made finer again for rolling stock in 1970, but anything post 1962 is generally OK. This means that very early Dock Shunters will have deeper flanges but red and later black ones are OK if they haven't had the wheels swapped. The four wheel motor bogies from the 1960s (also used in the Dock Shunter) had serrated rims, supposedly to improve grip but they are dirt magnets and therefore unpopular. From 1970 smooth wheels were fitted, these were available as spares up until the mid-80s but unsurprisingly stocks were exhausted as people sought to replace earlier wheels designs. The locos the OP describes should both be OK. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Peco Streamline was originally designed to accept all wheels from Tri-ang to 'scale' (BRMSB/NMRA), which it does if you ignore wheels bumping through the crossings. Sometime in the eighties the flangeway gap was tightened up and this later track may have problems with early Tri-ang wheels but the later (see-through spoke*) type should be OK. Some easing of the wheel back to back might be required. (I've never seen a quote for the correct setting.) Replacement wheels for the diesel shunter can be found on eBay. either smooth originals (the Class 37 type with extended axles will fit, but the axles require shortening - easy enough as they're plastic) or finer non original wheels are available from time to time. I fitted Dublo wagon wheels with the centres bored out to my Tri-ang DMU. Being a bit smaller diameter, these help with excessive speed** and over height buffers. * These have an awful square wheel profile as can be seen in the photo above. ** The beast goes like the proverbial 'scalded cat'! . A decent controller will tame her, but then the headlight goes out - LED replacement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 The serrated wheels were of sintered iron. don't bother trying to turn them in a lathe, they'll blunt your metalworking tools! the dock Tanks were fitted with them as well as the TC diesels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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