Irish Railway Models A Class Re-wheeled to 21mm

[DJ Dangerous]

On 3/7/2023 at 5:08 PM, Horsetan said:

Forgot to conclude: the above leaves you with twelve surplus "A" wheels, which make ideal practice pieces if you're learning how to use a lathe. Turn them to P4 profile so you have spares.

Also, six spare P4 axles with Deltic gears on them...

....and an invalidated IRM warranty. 

 

What was the overall goal? To have shallower flanges for running on lower profile rail?

With twelve wheels to practice turning down, one should have it down to a fine art for the next loco?

Can the wheels be turned down without a lathe? Ie in a drill?

[Horsetan]

3 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

 

What was the overall goal? To have shallower flanges for running on lower profile rail?

With twelve wheels to practice turning down, one should have it down to a fine art for the next loco?

Can the wheels be turned down without a lathe? Ie in a drill?

Scale flanges on scale rail, at the right gauge, are generally an improvement.

Some people in the past have managed to turn down flanges just by using a file with the wheel mounted in an ordinary drill, but I'd suspect the results might be a bit inconsistent unless you're careful to constantly measure whilst the work is underway. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Horsetan

[Horsetan]

Since completing this re-gauge, I have acquired another pack of Accurascale's P4 Deltic wheels for the princely sum of eight quid.

Just need to find another A class.....

[David Holman]

Impressive though this is, remember, you don't have to use P4 standards if you want to go 21mm gauge. You can use existing 00 finescale wheels and clearances - the latter being one millimetre flangeways between the vee and the check rails on the point crossing or frog.

 Andy Cundick has been doing this successfully for years with his Valentia Harbour and Courtmacsherry layouts and I copied this in my 7mm scale, 3' gauge Fintonagh. Compensation or suspension on stock isn't needed because of the deeper flanges compared to P4, but the track looks just as good.

 I built my points on Fintonagh using Templot templates. They actually produce an Irish EM version at 20.2mm gauge. Never heard of anyone doing this, but a simple matter to enlarge to 21mm on the home printer/copier.

 Anyone with diesel outline stock, assuming it is not a vast collection, could therefore convert to 21mm fairly easily. Yes, you have to make your own track, but C&L provide ready made parts for both plain track and points, so only a track gauge needs to be sourced and everything after that is welding plastic chairs to sleepers. 

 With current rtr stock being so good, it almost seems a shame not to!