I recently inherited 10 wooden cars that were kits that were built. I believe 2 of the 4 cars o want to make three rail are made by Westbrook. So what trucks should I get. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your easter. Pics 2 & 3 are the cars I want to make 3-rails
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I'd start with Weaver. .
Id agree, get Weaver 3 rail trucks with couplers. the mounting holes on the trucks should be similar (not identical) to the 2 rail ones on there. they mount from the bottom the same as 2 rail, and the bolster height of the truck should be the same as 2 rail keeping the car at the same height about the rails for a prototypical look.
MTH trucks mount from inside the car. Atlas uses a much slimmer car body and higher truck bolster. Lionel also uses a higher truck bolster and some of their trucks mount with spring clips from inside the car.
I would retain the original trucks and underframe, and simply replace the wheelsets and couplers. The only thing worth much on a Westbrook is that underframe, and if you cut it to use tinplate trucks you destroy what little value you had to start with.
Weaver certainly is a good place to start; they have plain-bearing type (cars from the 50's and before) and the roller-bearing type. They should yield a good car height.
Contrary to what was said above, Lionel - modern, scale-line production - trucks have very
low bolsters and will let the car sit even lower than the Weavers. They will probably
be designed for "top screw" mounting, but all you have to do is drill out the existing threaded screw hole and use the same sort of screw, from the bottom, that Weaver uses.
The old-style, high-bolster Lionel trucks are no longer found on any high-end Lionel products.
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Having said that, if you are new at this, get a pair of Weaver trucks and couplers and
experiment. They are the "friendliest". Learn the process and get comfortable with it (I've been at it for 20 years, so a lot of this stuff is familiar to me).
I've changed quite a few old 2-railers to hi-rail - it has involved new trucks, new wheels in the old trucks, new couplers...or some of all of that. Just fiddle with it until you're happy.
Contrary to what was said above, Lionel - modern, scale-line production - trucks have very
low bolsters and will let the car sit even lower than the Weavers. They will probably
be designed for "top screw" mounting, but all you have to do is drill out the existing threaded screw hole and use the same sort of screw, from the bottom, that Weaver uses.
You still need clearence for the Lionel Coupler.
A lot of the old classic wooden kits offered optional 3 rail wheels and couplers so you could try to keep the same trucks and just change the wheel sets but I think it would probably be cheaper and easier to cut the ends of the frame off and screw 3 rail trucks to the bottom of the car. I've had lots of the old cars with Lionel trucks screwed on them and using later trucks like MTH, K-line, or Atlas O would make the cars run even better. If you want to keep the frames intact then Athearn or Weaver trucks with 3 rail wheels could be used along with some 3 rail compatible couplers.....DaveB
You could change one of the cars into a transition car, and leave the rest as is, depending on what type of track you're using and how tight your curves are.
Hey Tim, a clear lighted, clear photo of the bottom of the car(s) would have been helpful. I would go with the majority and say Weaver trucks and couplers. I've done some of the old cars like those and Weaver is your best bet. Good luck.
I would retain the original trucks and underframe, and simply replace the wheelsets and couplers. The only thing worth much on a Westbrook is that underframe, and if you cut it to use tinplate trucks you destroy what little value you had to start with.
Yes; agreed.
And also it would be nice to actually be able to see the cars in the photos.....
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