I'm new to British OO gauge / scale but have a long history with other model railway scales and gauges, most noteably On30.
Its a real learning experience getting started with UK outline and so far I've purchased some Bachmann and Oxford Rail rolling stock locally as well as one of those beautiful Suttons Locomotive Workshop class 24 engines.
The bonus is that I can run the OO trains on my 16.5mm gauge On30 tracks and DCC to get up and running.
So, to the point of this :
I bought 6 Dapol LMS box vans this month from Rails of Sheffield and when I try to run them through my turnouts, they all derail or jump, indicating the wheelsets are out of gauge. My track is handlaid code 83 on timber ties and conforms to NMRA track standards. All my On30 equipment and SLW engine and OO rolling stock work flawlessly.
When I checked the back-to-back measurement of the Dapol wagons, every wheelset was set to about 14.3mm, whereas the NMRA standard indicates 14.55 (+0.05, -0.18)mm.
Search as I might, I can't find any internet references to a specific set of British OO wheel standards that might be different to NMRA practices.
Is there something different about OO standards that allows Dapol to set a narrower back-to-back? Or are the Dapol wagons known to be narrower?
Thanks.