Model Railroading > Wheels,nickel silver slacking.

They say you learn something new every day,Well heres todays lesson,I brought home 3 new Athearn SD40-2 locos. All Athearn engines I buy also come home with nickel silver wheels, Extra of course, all part of the upgrading process,Well get this, I set one engine up with the nickel silver and the other one with the standard steel wheels out of the box,I had heard that you loose some pull when you add the nickel silver wheels,I did a little test, I put one unit on one side of a block and another unit on the next block heading in different directions I had an 89 ft flat car between the two and grabed run 8.Guess who pulled who over the block?Yep the crummy noicey stock Athearn wheels.To further this test I swaped wheel sets thinking one loco might be stronger then the other, and throttles, But no luck guys the stock Athearn wheels pulled better then the nice looking N/S wheels I guess it has something to do with the roughness of the stock wheels over the smoothness of the N/S wheels.Just something to think about,I still prefer the N/S wheels. Have fun

The NS wheels are harder than the sintered iron stock Athearn wheels. The softer wheel has more traction.

The age-old trade-off: traction vs. improved electrical pickup.

-fm

SOFTER WHEEL??? I don't think so. Look at the polished surface of the "plated" nickle silver wheels and see how shiny they are, now look at the Athearn wheels, they have a rough texture to them. The surface texture is what gives the traction, it has nothing to do with the "hardness". Now on the other hand the highly polished nickle silver wheels will give better electrical conductivity for better performance with DCC and sound systems.
There is nothing wrong with either wheel it all depends on what you want, pulling power or better electrical conductivity. I use both depending on what I want out of the locomotive.

This is a most interesting thread! Thank you for the comparison of the different wheels. It would be most interesting to do the same test after both locos had been in service for two or three months to see what effect a bit of wear has. I know that I have found that the Athearn steel wheels pick up dirt much worse after they have some miles on them than they do new. I wonder how the nickel silver wheels hold up to use.

Here is another age old myth! Athearn wheelsets have a coating
on them left behind from the manufacturing process. This coating must be removed for best electrical pickup.Simply take a #428 Dremel wire brush and polish the face of the wheel until it shines.You will notice a little dust fly from the brush as you go,that's the residue left from the mfg. process.A highly polished Athearn wheel will only get better as it runs.And it will conduct the same amount of current as a nickle coated wheel! Whereas nickle silver coated wheels will flake with use.(some newer wheelset like the ones Stewart is using are solid nickle silver,but most are just plated brass) Note: use a battery operated mini-mite only,a std.Dremel will run to fast,even on its lowest setting and might gouge the wheel surface,also use light pressure as you do this working clockwise around the wheelface.You Athearn guys give this a try and save the money wasted on that old myth.And polished wheels will not lose tractive effort.

Although I spend countless hours building,detailing and painting each Athearn engine I own,I can honestly say I've never bought N/S wheels for any of them.
I have seen them on other peoples models and they look great,I even thought of replacing mine.

I have a few years under my belt in a machine shop that delt mainly with metals,may not be much,but it's something.

One thing I will say for the sintered iron wheels,as long as they run true,there ain't nothing wrong with them.I have yet to see an Athearn wheel set that was too bad to run.I'm not saying there isn't any out there,I've just never seen them.

Nickle is far more conductive than iron,wether it's plated or solid.

In the event of plated brass,the brass is softer than the iron,plated or not.
The reason iron wheels have more traction,is due to the pores or pits giving the wheel tread a "sandpaper" look and feel.
This has it's drawbacks as well,mostly the pores allow dirt to build up faster than on a smooth surface such as N/S.

I'm not demoting the N/S wheel sets,if you want to spend the extra dough for them,more power to ya.

The iron sets must be cleaned more often,but they will provide all the electrical pick up you need,esp. with all wheels providing contact to the rail.

My fear of N/S wheels would be cleaning the plated ones with the Kaydee wire brush wheel cleaner.Even though the brass is softer than the nickle,over time I would think it would eat away at the plating.

Just my opinion...
MetallicA

The quickest and easiest way to brush clean locomotive wheels is with the Kadee #236 "Speedi" Driver cleaner. It's a wire brush with power leads. We mounted one to the the club layout and wired it up permanently. Cleaning stock Athearn wheels is an ongoing maintenance chore.

http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page302.htm

- Dave.