Will, The NWSL wheelsets are solid nickel silver, which doesn’t collect crud from the track as the old AM sintered iron wheels did. I don’t know what Ron is using now. The main reason that I change out the AM to NWSL is that the flanges are deeper than the NASG standard, so they bump through my frogs. Very annoying! I use code 110, as probably most would. I’d be surprised if NWSL does not still make them. Maybe a query would be in order here.
Roger Nulton From: wsquinn Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 7:10 AM To: [email protected] Subject: {S-Scale List} Low speed worm for AM diesels and related questions Hello group, I have three questions regarding upgrades to the American Models GP mechanism. First question is about the low speed worm that is available from AM: will it work with older AM GPs? I had assumed that it would work on all AM diesels, but when I called Ron at AM and asked this question (noting that all of my GPs were purchased prior to 2000), he said the low speed worm would probably work in older locomotives, but that it might make them a bit noisy. He made reference to the helical worm gear used in the older drives being a factor. I'll be giving AM another call for some clarification, and probably will buy a couple of low speed worms to try out. It seems that if in fact different types of worm gears were used at various times in the production of these models, then the replacement worm would be well suited to one type, but not the other(s). Does anyone here know if the worm gears are different in older and newer models, and whether or not the low speed worm will perform properly in an older unit? Next question: Are U -joint drives preferred over the pen springs supplied with some of these models? I have both types, and the pen spring drives seem to work okay, but I suspect there could be some benefit to replacing them with the more conventional U-joint drives such as those available from AM. Just one more question (for now), regarding the NWSL replacement geared wheel sets for the GPs: They are only available now with code 88 wheels. As far as appearance goes the wider treads on the AM (scale) stock wheels don't concern me, and they seem to roll along on code 70 track without bumping on spike heads or anything like that despite the slightly deep flanges. I assume that the main advantage of the NWSL replacements is appearance, but I may be overlooking something. I would appreciate any assistance you can provide to me. Thanks. Will Quinn
