Very nice analysis. What this means for scale trackage, of course, is the
need for much more attention to detail to the track and wheel gauges. If we
put down the track such that the gauge is too tight (or the wheels too far
apart) - that is, that the flanges are pinched against the rail - there is
no opportunity for the wheels to ride up on the bevels (they are already
fully at the highest radius on BOTH sides) and hence the opportunity for a
de-rail.
I thought about this some more before hitting "send". I have paid very
little attention to wheel profile standards. I went and looked at both a
set of American Models and S Helper Service "scale" wheels. With the naked
eye, I could see the bevel on the wheels but just barely. How do these
really compare to the prototype? Given the weights of our scale rolling
stock and motive power, I am wondering if our wheel profiles are more for
show than function and we really do depend on the flanges to keep everything
"off the ground"?
An interesting experiment comes to mind. Take a set of wheels and grind the
flanges away. Run a freight car equipped with these wheels on a well gauged
piece of straight track. Will the car stay on the rail? Try the same on a
very wide radius curve (scaled down prototype mainline curve).
Walt
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