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I need all of your help again. I sent my question to Sarah to see if she can help first, if she can't. Do any of you know what size scale wheels I can replace the deep flange wheels with on the tender, trailing and forward trucks. I tried the tender through the #5 test switch, it rides up over.

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@DL&W Pete posted:

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Not what I want to see when I open up a brand new steam engine. This is the front pilot truck wheel. Been on hold for lionel customer service now for 40 minutes....

Yeah, that's been an issue reported by several folks here.  They had also fallen out in shipping when I inspected my Berk at the LHS...  I almost sent the Berk back, then we found them sitting in the bottom of the Styrofoam.  I plan to use a little dab of Walthers Goo to hold them in, (whenever I locate my wayward tube. )

Rusty

Last edited by Rusty Traque

Oh! American Flyer is S-scale! I had no clue. Is it 2-rail then?

AF  and s Gauge is 2 rail.

So it has nothing to do with O gauge / O scale, right?

No, but Lionel currently is one of the manufacturers of AF S gauge trains.

What scale are the dimensions and what gage is the track?

Scale dimensions are 1/64  or 3/16th to a foot. Track gauge is appox 7/8th of an inch.

Yeah, that's been an issue reported by several folks here.  They had also fallen out in shipping when I inspected my Berk at the LHS...  I almost sent the Berk back, then we found them sitting in the bottom of the Styrofoam.  I plan to use a little dab of Walthers Goo to hold them in, (whenever I locate my wayward tube. )

Rusty

After 1:15 on hold with lionel, they are going to mail me two new plastic pieces to hold the pilot wheel in place.16070197862723648495887779699221

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DL&W Pete, from the picture it appears the flange is hitting the rail rather than just riding up on the frog insert. That is likely happening because the clearance of the guide rail prevents the tread of the other wheel wheel from contacting the rail when passing through the guides. This is the reason it is better to use the high rail version of the FV turnouts and add a thin plastic shim to the guiderail so both scale and high rail wheels will work.

@AmFlyer posted:

DL&W Pete, from the picture it appears the flange is hitting the rail rather than just riding up on the frog insert. That is likely happening because the clearance of the guide rail prevents the tread of the other wheel wheel from contacting the rail when passing through the guides. This is the reason it is better to use the high rail version of the FV turnouts and add a thin plastic shim to the guiderail so both scale and high rail wheels will work.

The pictures of your yard, are they the high rail version of the FV switch.

I suggest buying a spare wheel set from Lionel and turning them down on a lathe.You might end up with no way of holding the traction tires in place with out them the engine will not pull very good.

The front pilot axle being out of the pilot is very common to these engines. I have had three of the Flyer Chief versions go back for broken pilots (ONE TWICE) very poor design.

Gunny

My turnouts were hand laid using Fast Tracks jigs and MTH .138 rail. The layout was completed prior to FV announcing their turnouts. I noticed above that proto:64 was selected for the wheel profile. Proto:64 (code 87) wheels may not work satisfactorily on your layout. The S scale wheel profile you want is called “code 110 scale.” The flange depth of these wheels is .030” and is the wheel that the FV turnouts are designed to operate. All those who are using FV turnouts who have posted on various sites state they use the High Rail version and shim the guide rails if they want to operate any equipment with high rail wheels in addition to scale wheels.

If you plan to cut down a high rail wheel in a lathe it is not as simple as just lopping off the high point. The entire flange must be reprofiled to work on the scale turnouts. The drivers have a different profile so those might be easier to cut down but are a real pain to get off the engine.

Here is a closeup of the frog area of my turnouts. The gap between the rail and the guide is 3/32” and both scale and high rail wheels work flawlessly. The two insulators on the frog and the two on the wing rails are visible. These allow the frogs to be powered.



A30FE2D0-93EE-4B23-BAF8-7CD071C56D2B

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Last edited by AmFlyer

New question- Can I use scale track, scale wheels on everything else but this legacy Berkshire and use the high rail switches. The rail will be the same height, but it will have deeper cuts for the frog's in the switches. Kind of like 3 rail scale with flat T track. Does anybody have one of these FV #5 switches in high rail.

@Chuck K posted:

I assume Ron H above was referring to NWSL's custom wheel manufacturing service.  You would need to contact them to make the request, but I am aware of someone who made such a request recently, and there is a many month backlog.

Thanks Chuck, I love this 1225 Berkshire. I am going to remove the Pere Marquette lettering and letter it Paradise Valley and keep the 1225 number.

@DL&W Pete posted:

So, how would I "trim" half of the flange away on the front & rear driver's.

High rail flanges and scale flanges have very different profiles.  It may not be possible.  There have been model railroading machinists who have done similar work in the past but the only ones I know of either have passed on or don't do it any longer. I would pose this question about the drivers to NWSL as well.  I am not confident that you will end up with a proper operating loco with the possible exception of spending the big bucks and long waiting time to have NWSL remake all of the wheels to code 110.

All of this is why is why I come back to my recommendation for anyone that wants to run scale wheel equipment but also wants to run Flyonel Legacy steamers that they go with code 138 rail which is widely available in flex or sectional.  And go with FVM's hi-rail turnouts which can be modified to accommodate both types of wheels (although they are currently out of stock and being manufactured). 

@Chuck K posted:

High rail flanges and scale flanges have very different profiles.  It may not be possible.  There have been model railroading machinists who have done similar work in the past but the only ones I know of either have passed on or don't do it any longer. I would pose this question about the drivers to NWSL as well.  I am not confident that you will end up with a proper operating loco with the possible exception of spending the big bucks and long waiting time to have NWSL remake all of the wheels to code 110.

All of this is why is why I come back to my recommendation for anyone that wants to run scale wheel equipment but also wants to run Flyonel Legacy steamers that they go with code 138 rail which is widely available in flex or sectional.  And go with FVM's hi-rail turnouts which can be modified to accommodate both types of wheels (although they are currently out of stock and being manufactured).

Your track is the MTH with the road bed and it looks scale. That is what I  want Chuck, can we talk later. I have a decision to make and I want your imput.

@DL&W Pete posted:

New question- Can I use scale track, scale wheels on everything else but this legacy Berkshire and use the high rail switches. The rail will be the same height, but it will have deeper cuts for the frog's in the switches. Kind of like 3 rail scale with flat T track. Does anybody have one of these FV #5 switches in high rail.

I do.  I modified it with styrene pieces using a design from Roger Zuerlein.  I then tested a variety of high rail and scale wheeled locos through it in both directions, both open and closed.  Everything worked great. There is another thread on here somewhere that discusses all of this.

@jonnyspeed posted:

Hi Pete,

The Fox Valley Hi-Rail turnouts can be modified to allow BOTH Hi-Rail and Scale wheels to run through them. We have posted the link a couple of times on the Facebook group.

Regards,

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

Chuck had sent me an email with the mods to make that happen, I am looking forward 2021. I have 18 pieces of flex track already, two AM E8 A's, five AM heavyweights and one legacy 1225. In contact with Circus City Decals to make my own railroad, all of my HO, O 2&3 is boxed up ready for the auction company. Time to move on and downsize, I should of done this before S Helper Service closed. I have found every diesel engine I need, need to get two or three more steam engines to complete the roster.

The Paradise Valley Railroad is about to hit the tracks, running rights with the DL&W, L&NE and Reading.

I had the same problem on my Nickel plate road unit the plastic bearing where in the bottom of the box, I ended up getting a replacement front pilot assembly from Charles RO within a couple of day, installed it and after one hour of running the replacement pilot assembly fell apart I had to hunt over my layout to find the plastic bearing which I did I ended up glueing them back in place and looks ok so far.

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