What to Use

Intermountain and ExactRail wheelsets seem to perform well in Accurail trucks.  Wheels of 33" diameter would be appropriate for most Accurail cars.  The exceptions would be the 100-ton ACF and PS 4750 covered hoppers, which should have 36" wheels.

Also Used

I have also used Lifelike and KD 33" metal wheelsets witlhout a problem.

Espee over Donner

So 33" it should be?

I have only 1940-60 type cars so that would be better, I presume.

Yup

If you aren't dealing with the grain hoppers, 33" it is.

yep

the 33" inch wheels work very well, I have used 13 cars of 1 type and 17 of another type of accurail cars, and they perform well.  I keep some of those type of wheelsets on hand now at all times.  They work well as replacement for Athearn blue box kits as well, and these are the same wheels I used for the IHC passenger cars.  I've gone thru several bulk packs of 100 by now.

Well done Accurail

I got an immediate reply from them saying that they were sending me not only one pair but a few just in case I had any more problems. This is what they said:

"Good afternoon David and I'm very sorry about the mis-molded wheelset.  We try to catch those whenever they happen, but sometimes they manage to slip through the cracks.
I'll have some new wheelsets in the mail and on the way to you immediately.  Will send some extras in case you ever find any bad ones in the future.
Apologies again for the inconvenience."

Great service.

Accurail - good people

Supporters of MRH, supporters of my Railroading merit badge classes.  Check out the mention of them in my article in March 2014 MRH - available in the back issue section.

I have found them easy to deal with, and they care.  Sometimes though their e-mail systems flags things as spam so you have to be careful and follow up.

33"

As already stated, Intermountain 33" wheels fit most everything.  I use the 36" ones on my 100 ton cars, and passenger cars.

Out of 1,100 wheel sets, I got 1 bad one.

Atlas Caboose 33" wheelsets

I use Intermountain 33" wheelsets for nearly everything, but for Accurail trucks I found the Altas Caboose 33" metal wheelsets fit a little better.

They're out-of-stock everywhere at the moment, but I always keep a supply on hand for AccuRail purchases.

"fits better"?

Dear Steven,

Would love to hear more on "fitting better", is it an axle-length issue, or other?

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Atlas wheelsets - length

It's a length issue; the IMs (to me) rattle around a bit more side-to-side than I like.

Really great service from Accurail

I reported to missing flanges to Accurail on Thursday last week. A pack of 10 wheelsets arrived in the post today.

I am in the UK so I think that the service I got was amazing. Well done Acurail.

David