Replacement 10.5mm diameter wheels for use with Tri-ang Hornby bogies

If you want to run vintage stock on even Peco Code 100 Streamline the 10.5mm wheels for Super 4 and System 6 track run badly as they are very coarse.

This affects e.g. Murgatroyd Chlorine tanks, Freightliner, Tierwag, Cartic 2, Lowmac and just about any Tri-ang bogie wagon of that era with point ended axles.

For some while romford 10.5mm wheels were the ones of choice as a drop in replacement but sadly they are very rarely available these days, I have tried other suppliers but they have generally been of inferior quality from being undersized, e.g. the Peters Spares part PS33 now listed as 10mm (axle lengths were inconsistent too), originally as 10.5mm, or eccentric and I hate limping wagons.

While the 10.5mm diameter wheel is non-standard in the UK for 4mm scale OO gauge it is available as a standard diameter for US bogie wagons as a 36 or is it 36.5 inch wheel in 1:87 scale.

This turns out to be 10.5 to 10.6mm diameter, aha, but be careful the 1:87 axle lengths are often too short for our 1:76 scale bogies.

Recently I came across 10.5mm diameter wheels with 25.4mm point to point axles which I have found to run well, they are nominally 0.2mm shorter than desired but have run well in testing (3 sets of empty Cartic 2 wagons with a heavy Dapol track cleaner in tow) being pushed faster than I would normally shunt, and pull okay across my pointwork.



These are currently available on eBay UK and would expect elsewhere so I include the listing description too :-

12pcs HO Gauge 1:87 36" Metal Wheelsets Metal DC Wheels Metal Axles C8721

Link: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374309814803

Be very wary, they sell a variety of axle lengths, 2 rail and 3 rail versions, so although they sell packs of 12 and 24 these were only sold in packs of 12, note the part# C8721, I have bought 4 packs now, spread over two orders and the dimensions (axle length and tread diameter) are consistent on measured samples and the wheels run true.

Products can be manufactured well in China if the design authority stipulates, and controls quality properly.

There can be some oil on the tread from manufacturing but I found that often to be the case from well known brands too.

The seller includes dimensions in the listing, as shown above, packs well and they arrived in about 2 weeks directly from China.

Jim