The Bane of Traction Tires!

Every one of my locomotives has traction tires. Although I don't like grooved wheels and traction tires, they haven't been much of a problem for me. They seem to last pretty well on my layouts, which have O-72 and O-54 curves, and I run short consists. But, I would be happy to accept a loss of tractive effort in exchange for "real wheels."

MELGAR

Well stated! ☺

Let us hear both pro and con for traction tites.

Con- loss of electrical connection is greater with tires.

Con- real trains have metal tires

Con- disassembly of some locos

Pro- they work well for me. I don't hate it anymore but still luv magnetraction best as I run too fast at times.(pro- magnetraction is more like real gravity being  applied  vs just grip from slip of rubber.

Pro- cheap

Hate 'em.  How I *wish* that 3-rail O gauge manufacturers would redesign their loco chassis, such that the end user could decide whether to equip grooved wheels with rubber tires, or ungrooved metal wheels.  Not holding my breath though. 

The only "pro" I can think of for rubber tires, is that they allow locos to climb unrealistically steep grades (such as might be encountered climbing out of hidden staging.)  For any other scenario, adding weight or doubleheading is the answer.  My $.02.

Don't care for them at all.  You want rubber tires, get a slot car track.   

Another con, they dirty up the rails.

John: I agree!  😁

I don’t like them...but are a must have if you have grades

I converted about 5 or 6 of my Railking diesels...a good freind got me a coffee can full of wheels from a man that did 2 rail conversions. I have no grades on my small layout so I replaced the grooved wheels with regular wheels.

I also found a use for the grooved wheels on the FM trucks I got rid of the blind axle wheels and replaced them with the grooved wheels it looks a lot better but the locomotive has to only be used on wide radius track.

Before

after

Heres a short video of the locomotive pulling a PWC train

Good job on the FM Bob!  On steam locos it's not so easy... The wheels have to be pressed on in quarter.  A small misalignment will lead to poor running, and a new quartering jig would have to be built for every different loco.  Also, replacement wheels are very hard to come by.  If the front and rear flanged wheels are identical, you might be able to swap a set from an identical donor loco.  Then I suppose you could sell the resulting four-tired abomination to someone who wants to pull stumps from their yard, or climb an O-scale Mt. Everest.

Tires are only a must if you have unrealistic grades.  For the record I'm not really a fan of Magne-traction either.  It contributes nothing if you're running on Atlas track, or even MTH RealTrax.  Just 1950s Lionel marketing gimmickry that was difficult or impossible for American Flyer to duplicate, and great for picking up ferrous debris near the track. 

All of this grows out of a toy-train mentality that you should maybe build an over-and-under in 4 x 8.  That's not a realistic expectation.  IMO it doesn't look realistic, and it defies the laws of railroading physics.

When MTH ventured into HO scale in a big way, they did it right.  Split chassis with "bottom plate", wheels / axles / bearings are removable as an assembly.  They even included a rubber-tired axle in the box for those who wanted it.  American Models S-gauge steam locos are also built this way.  I just want the O gauge manufacturers to retool (a dirty word with the demographics of our hobby today) so that end consumers have a choice of tires or not.

Ted S posted:

Good job on the FM Bob!  On steam locos it's not so easy... The wheels have to be pressed on in quarter.  A small misalignment will lead to poor running, and a new quartering jig would have to be built for every different loco.  Also, replacement wheels are very hard to come by.  If the front and rear flanged wheels are identical, you might be able to swap a set from an identical donor loco.  Then I suppose you could sell the resulting four-tired abomination to someone who wants to pull stumps from their yard, or climb an O-scale Mt. Everest.

Tires are only a must if you have unrealistic grades.  For the record I'm not really a fan of Magne-traction either.  It contributes nothing if you're running on Atlas track, or even MTH RealTrax.  Just 1950s Lionel marketing gimmickry that was difficult or impossible for American Flyer to duplicate, and great for picking up ferrous debris near the track. 

All of this grows out of a toy-train mentality that you should maybe build an over-and-under in 4 x 8.  That's not a realistic expectation.  IMO it doesn't look realistic, and it defies the laws of railroading physics.

When MTH ventured into HO scale in a big way, they did it right.  Split chassis with "bottom plate", wheels / axles / bearings are removable as an assembly.  They even included a rubber-tired axle in the box for those who wanted it.  American Models S-gauge steam locos are also built this way.  I just want the O gauge manufacturers to retool (a dirty word with the demographics of our hobby today) so that end consumers have a choice of tires or not.

All good points Ted !

Even if I had access to steam locomotive wheels I wouldn’t attempt to do a swap out on the grooved wheels ....I’m not that good !

I may be in the minority here, but I have no problem with traction tires.  My grades are generally 2.5% or less.  I do run some long trains (18 weighted hoppers) and don’t have a problem going up those grades.  I have replaced tires on diesels, electrics and steamers and don’t find it difficult.  I have a few locos with over 1000 scale miles that have not required tire replacement.

Magne-Traction now, Magne-Traction tomorrow, Magne-Traction forever !

I just use black RTV no problem!

I have given up on tires, especially for steamers with all those small screws in linkages, plus my layout is flat except for slight rise over a waterway.  Been running this for for years with no discernible problems.  Only exception is replacing tires on trolley as it has to climb a hill.

My layout is completely level and my LGB locos are properly weighted so I have NO need for those dadblamed tires. The engines that have them have all had new tires installed and It was fortunate that I had enough original replacements EXCEPT for the 2045, hence my plan to replace the traction tire wheelset with a regular set for that engine.

Recently I used Liquid electrical tape on a williams engine to which I could not get traction tires, the secret is to turn the engine over and with the wheels turning slow brush the liquid on the wheels, let dry for 24 hours.  So far it looks like it will work, the liquid when dry has a high friction co efficient which is  as good or better than traction tires.  if you do purchase LET  and over time the liquid becomes gummy, a phone call to  the mfg indicated  that the addition of Acetone or MEK will fix the gummy  liquid problem. 

We consumers do have some choices, when it comes to diesels.  Of course there's Magne-traction but few of the post war Lionel diesel locomotives qualify as "scale" to meet modern modelers' tastes.  However, many current MTH Premier diesels do offer the 2R-3R option which permits wheel/axle replacement with relative ease.  Notable exceptions are the ALCo PA/B and DL-109/110, FM Trainmaster, plus EMD E6 and E8.  I'll not buy another of those until MTH offers them with 2R-3R trucks.

Interestingly, Lionel has quietly dipped its toe in the waters of wheel/axle replacements! They offer replacement wheel/axle sets for their ALCo S-2 (see the relevant parts list), AND, quite by accident* I came upon this for my BNSF SD70ACe:

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...4d-aa18-da5ad1cdf959

You'd think that Lionel feared being burned at the stake for such heresy!  They hid this better than Fredrick III hid Martin Luther at Wartburg Castle.  I have received my two sets of "small flanges" wheel sets which include one rubber tired whee/axle per set.  I have yet to tackle the replacement of the factory equipment rubber tired wheel/axles but it looks to be quite easy and straight forward, complicated only by my desire to replace The Claw with Kadees at the same time.

Note*   My BNSF SD70ACe slipped from a precarious perch on the workbench and hit the concrete floor but only busted the "radiator housing", thus requiring a visit to the Lionel Replacement Parts site and my discovery of their very secret sin.

Recently took a Santa Fe 0-8-0 out for a run with 3 boxcars and noticed the wheels slipping, so I took unit, turned it upside down and the smoke switch on and ran it for several minutes, then let it cool and did the same again. Then after turning off the smoker, placed it back on track and it ran fine. 

So, I 'assume' (be careful there...Uknow what that can do!) that at one time must have put too much fluid in the smoker and it was draining onto the track, thus creating a super slick surface. 

All is fine now, just thought I would put my 'two-cents-worth' in.