Some people love rubber traction tyres. Some people don't. I'm in the latter category.
I don't like spending $ I don't have to, and I don't like wasting my battery life either so I experimented with removing traction tyres on my USA Trains F3s and geeps, rather than trying to obtain extra wheelsets from the US. To be honest I initially went down this path after failing to get hold of wheelsets after several weeks, maybe it's much easier for you guys in the US to get hold of these. But at the same time, I don't like having to buy more wheelsets and throw these rubberised ones in a drawer...
if you are a cheap-skate like me you can remove the tyres, remove the axle from the truck, stick the axle-end in a drill and take a file to those ridges that keeps the tyre on.
This means the wheel is now 2mm less diameter. So I swap and change so the the smaller wheels are all on one truck. Or preferably on the one engine.
Now when I run a multiple of a F3ABA + a geep round my track from the one battery car my batteries last approximately 25% longer. And worn rubber tyres aren't coming adrift and tangling up under the truck. This is despite the fact that two of the engines have slightly smaller wheels. (I pack the truck mounts out by 1mm to get the engine bodies back to their original height.)
Wheelsets without ball bearings cause drag, we all know that. But what if they're rubber-tyred on both wheels!!? I wonder why they're not on diagonally opposite wheels like they are in some H0 and N engines, then at least the metal wheel at the other end of the axle can do the skidding.
All this saves me $$, saves me amps, and gives me another tweaking project. So it really works for me all round!
Keep on chargin' batt-feinds!
I don't like spending $ I don't have to, and I don't like wasting my battery life either so I experimented with removing traction tyres on my USA Trains F3s and geeps, rather than trying to obtain extra wheelsets from the US. To be honest I initially went down this path after failing to get hold of wheelsets after several weeks, maybe it's much easier for you guys in the US to get hold of these. But at the same time, I don't like having to buy more wheelsets and throw these rubberised ones in a drawer...
if you are a cheap-skate like me you can remove the tyres, remove the axle from the truck, stick the axle-end in a drill and take a file to those ridges that keeps the tyre on.
This means the wheel is now 2mm less diameter. So I swap and change so the the smaller wheels are all on one truck. Or preferably on the one engine.
Now when I run a multiple of a F3ABA + a geep round my track from the one battery car my batteries last approximately 25% longer. And worn rubber tyres aren't coming adrift and tangling up under the truck. This is despite the fact that two of the engines have slightly smaller wheels. (I pack the truck mounts out by 1mm to get the engine bodies back to their original height.)
Wheelsets without ball bearings cause drag, we all know that. But what if they're rubber-tyred on both wheels!!? I wonder why they're not on diagonally opposite wheels like they are in some H0 and N engines, then at least the metal wheel at the other end of the axle can do the skidding.
All this saves me $$, saves me amps, and gives me another tweaking project. So it really works for me all round!
Keep on chargin' batt-feinds!
