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A Few Questions About Intermountain Wheelsets Locos and rolling stock
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Prolific poster 1,493 posts JC Shall Prolific poster 1,493 posts
JC Shall

I'd like to start changing out the plastic wheelsets in my car fleet with metal ones.  Over the years the Intermountain wheelsets seem to be highly regarded so I thought I'd order a bulk box of those.  The stock number for the 100 pack of HO 33" wheelsets is 40055.

My first question:  the wheels are described as brass construction.  Looking at a few photos on internet sites (there is no LHS stocking these in my area), I can't tell whether these wheels have a nickel plating or a chemical blackening.  If it's blackening, does it tend to wear off the wheel tread leaving a brass colored finish?

Regarding the width of the wheels: I know that Intermountain offers the wheels in both .110 and .088 tread widths.  But I can't find anything (including Intermountain's website) that states what wheel widths are packaged in the bulk pack.  Can one of you Intermountain users help me with this?

Thanks in advance.

-Jack

-Jack

Louisiana Central Railroad

The Louisiana Central Blog
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wp8thsub MRH Author 3,347 posts
wp8thsub

A Few Answers?

Per Intermountain's site at http://intermountain-railway.com/ho/hoacc.htm , the bulk pack 40055 are not labeled as "semi-scale."  One of my local shops has stocked the boxes with this part number and sold the wheels from them, as they are in separate packages of 10 (a goofy number as wheelsets are usually otherwise sold in packages of 12, but it makes for 10 packages to a box).  I have purchased a few such bags in the past and they're code 110.

I haven't noticed that any sort of plating, if it exists, wears off.  As the wheels wear they develop a shiny finish on the treads that doesn't look yellowish like plain brass.  Whatever these are made of they're quite durable. 

Rob Spangler MRH Blog
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glenng6 Regular poster 319 posts
glenng6

Intermountain Wheelsets

I just finished a box of the 40055 wheelsets and am about to order another from my LHS. As Rob said they are code 110. Mine look like they are nickel silver and certainly do not have any coating at all. Some of these wheels have been in use for over a year and the color on the tread has not changed, except they look like they have been polished. The best part is they have fit the trucks of every car they have been added to and run very well.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

 
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JC Shall Prolific poster 1,493 posts
JC Shall

Questions Answered

You guys have addressed my concerns, and it sounds like they'll fit the bill for me.  I'm going to spring for some.

Thanks for your help.

-Jack

Louisiana Central Railroad

The Louisiana Central Blog
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mikeruby Regular poster 236 posts
mikeruby

They are brass

I fit resistors for block detection, in doing so I file the area I'm soldering to, the wheels and axles are definitely plated brass. They are not blackened and I have seen no sign of the plating wearing off, having fitted 100's of them. I use acrylic paint pens to weather them.

They are too long for some trucks, such as newer Athearn, I use a truck tuner tool to increase the depth of the axle holes.

Mike Ruby
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