Regauging pressed on wheels

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Fender
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Re: Regauging pressed on wheels

Post by Fender »

Pontiacguy1 wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:30 pm That's how the manufacturers reduced the gauge on the drivers of the 'Russian' decapods back in 1918. They were built for the Russian 5' gauge railroad when the bolshevic revolution stranded several hundred of them in various stages of build. They modified the lead trucks, modified the trucks on the tender, and used a really wide and thick tire on the drive wheels which brought the gauge down to our standard 56 1/2" width, flanges moved back 1 3/4" per side. If you ever see one up close you can see that there is a lot of wear right up next to the flanges, but the outside area is not very worn at all. It is also a bit surprising how wide those tires look compared to others. It definitely worked, though. Some of those locomotives lasted until the very end of steam.
Actually, on the decapod I saw, the outside edge of the tires was all torn up, presumably from hitting self-guarding frogs that were designed for standard-width driver tires! Anecdotally, a former fireman on the GM&O RR told me how the Russian Decapods would tear up the switches when running on unfamiliar territory (with self-guarding frogs).
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Regauging pressed on wheels

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

The ones I've seen had a noticeable dip and lots of wear up near the flanges, and then at the outside edge of the tire, there wasn't much wear at all and you could tell that this part of the tire almost never touched the track. With the really wide tire on there to set the flanges back, the outside edge was just hanging out there in the air most of the time. Seemed a bit funny having a tire that was almost 2" wider than normal.

In this hobby, and especially on a 12" gauge railroad that won't have any self-guarding frogs, there won't be any major drawbacks to doing exactly what they did to narrow the gauge on those Russian Decapods, unless you don't have enough clearance between the drive wheels and frame. Then you've got a lot of other problems.
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Fred_V
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Re: Regauging pressed on wheels

Post by Fred_V »

Fred_V wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:17 am Glenn, read his original post.
My apology. I should have read it again.
Fred
Fred V
Pensacola, Fl.
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