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@prrjim posted:

Code 100 is pretty small track.    Without looking at the numbers,  would have guessed they would not.

I have code 125 in my  yard, and hi-rails bump along the ground or ties on that.

Are your wheels Flyer or Flyonel?  SHS and AM flanges are quiet a bit smaller.  Their flange depth is .06" which is much smaller than .100" height of the track.  Point 04 difference is more than I would guess the spike heads to be.  But it's just a guess.

Tom Stoltz

in Maine

As prrjim says, the MTH and AM highrail wheels will not even run on code 125 track. The flanges bounce along on the ties. I have some code 125 on my layout, scale wheels only. Code 100 would not even be close. I think this is the main reason that Scale Trains is including a set of scale wheels in the packaging of the new S gauge freight cars that were just put on their site for pre-order.

@AmFlyer posted:

As prrjim says, the MTH and AM highrail wheels will not even run on code 125 track. The flanges bounce along on the ties. I have some code 125 on my layout, scale wheels only. Code 100 would not even be close. I think this is the main reason that Scale Trains is including a set of scale wheels in the packaging of the new S gauge freight cars that were just put on their site for pre-order.

I am really blown away by that.  The numbers would say otherwise, unless I'm not doing my math correctly.  I've attached a drawing of the SHS Hi-rail wheel profile.

Tom, could it be the spike heads rather than the ties?

Attachments

Files (1)

Tom, the code 125 rail I have is glued to the ties, no spikes. The flanges are contacting the ties. The reason I bought the code 125 rail in the first place was that people said it would work with high rail wheels, Not True. I am using the .138 MTH flex track and rail. Most everything runs on that with the exception of the latest run of Lionel PA's. they hit the moldings that hold the rails to the ties. The problem we had with high rail wheels and .138 rail was the ballast. We had to go over all 700' of track and chip out any piece of ballast that was higher than the top of the ties and near the rail.

The .138 SHS/MTH rail looks better on the layout than the code 125 rail. The reason is the railhead of the MTH rail is much thinner than the code 125 rail. The difference in height is overshadowed by the width of the rail head. Code 100 is of course much smaller. It was not an option for me.

Tom, I looked at one of the MTH cars more carefully. I do not have a micrometer but using tools I have it appears the flange is .1" So, as you say it should work on code 125, I do not see it working on code 100 rail. If only I had a piece of code 100 track I could test it. All the new cars from ST come with scale wheels in the packaging, I have four on order to check them out. The MTH cars did not come with a set of scale wheels.

Tom, I did some more testing with AM wheels. Their flanges do not touch the ties when on code 125 rail, but they do just barely touch the top of the rail base where it meets the web. Were the rails spiked rather than glued the flanges would hit the spikes. The MTH wheels have smaller flanges than the AM wheels and are closer to a scale shape. These would clear spikes on code 125 rail. Based on the size of the gap the MTH wheels might not contact the ties with code 100 rail. I doubt they would clear any spikes.

Carey, Fast Tracks needs to update their website. My layout uses .138 rail (SHS/MTH) and anything Gilbert ever made runs perfectly on it. Plus Lionel S gauge FasTrack uses .138 rail for all S gauge high rail equipment.

I purchased the Jigs from Fast Tracks for hand laying the #5, 6 & 8 .138 rail turnouts on my layout.

@AmFlyer posted:

Tom, I did some more testing with AM wheels. Their flanges do not touch the ties when on code 125 rail, but they do just barely touch the top of the rail base where it meets the web. Were the rails spiked rather than glued the flanges would hit the spikes. The MTH wheels have smaller flanges than the AM wheels and are closer to a scale shape. These would clear spikes on code 125 rail. Based on the size of the gap the MTH wheels might not contact the ties with code 100 rail. I doubt they would clear any spikes.

It's interesting that AM has different profile Hi-rail wheels than SHS.  I guess I never looked that close.  The flanges I measured were .059" and that's why I thought they probably would run on .100" rail.  Not too surprised about the spikes on the .100" rail but on the .125", I am surprised.  The spike heads are a full .0625 high... that's 4 scale inch tall spike heads.  So much for rivet counting.

Anyway, I figure that Fox Valley could have scale turnouts which would allow Hi-rail operation if the flange ways were widened just 3/128".  But I suppose scale modelers would not go for it, still I think it would widen their market a bit.

Tom Stoltz

in Maine

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