Athearn has decided to jump into the metal wheel business... http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/112211/11_N_wheelsets_112211.pdf http://nscalesupply.com/ath/ATH-wheels.html Talk about lack of info though. No clue what the close-up appearance of the wheel profile is, and whether these are more in the category of FVM and BLMA, or more in the category of older Atlas and IM metal wheels. They don't even say if they are 'low-profile', although they kinda look it in the picture. At least they tell you the axle length. Also, about 50% more expensive than FVM, 25% more expensive than BLMA. Still, with the availability problems in N scale metal wheels, I might end up sampling some of these.
Since I bought every kind of metal wheel available, I felt obliged to order a pack for test reasons :tb-embarrassed: My guess (but it is a pure guess) would be that the new wheels might be similar to the ExactRail metal wheels, which I also used as replacements for Athearn plastic wheels. What I don't understand is the package size. With 8-sets the cost of packaging and handling are probably higher than the manufacturing cost of the wheelsets. When I looked at the latest pictures of new Athearn equipment it seemed that they already have metal wheels. But the description of the newest announcement of covered hoppers did not mention metal wheels as a feature of the cars. So I will just wait and see.
Are you sure you're not looking at HO versions of the same model? A lot of the manufacturers do that, it can be annoying.
Interesting. The tread width looks pretty good in the pictures, but that's about all you can tell. RE the axle length: I was trying to install new wheels on an Athearn bay window caboose and couldn't find an FVM size that works. Now I know why - at .5445" the Athearn axles are squarely between the .540 and .553 FVM sizes. The .540 did work, but they are a bit floppy, so maybe I'll try these new wheels. (Normally I'd change trucks too, but this model has unique trucks.) -Gary
In a recent Athearn add shown inside the front cover of the sept.-oct. 2011 issue of N scale Railroading there's a closeup picture of an Ethanol tank car with metal wheels, the wheels actually looked good. And it was definitely a picture of an N scale car not HO.
Hmm, judging by the only blurry enlarged close up picture I saw, they look similar to FVM wheels in their profile, however I can't be sure. But what I can be sure of is that going by the retail prices of both Athearn and FVM...the Athearn's will cost about $1.00 more per car. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm very happy with the FVM's I have, and paying $1 more can add up quickly when you have a lot of cars to replace. Also, the word from the FVM rep at Trainfest is that the 0.540 wheels well be back on the shelves soon, certainly before the Athearn's come out!
Let me see if I have this right... Athearn builds a car with unique looking trucks Athearn comes with plastic wheels Athearn has an 'oddball' sized axle Athearn then comes out with metal wheels with the 'oddball' sized axles Athearn is gonna charge up tp 50% then the top wheelset manufactures charge for their 'normal' length axles. Don't know about you...but when Athearn ( or any manufactire for that matter) bends its customers over with such practices...I believe I will NEVER own an Athearn anything !! JMHO...thnxs
Here is a shot of the new wheels on an ethanol tanker: http://www.athearn.com/ProdInfo/LargeImages/ATH24361.jpg These look nice, but no better than FVM or BLMA wheels. Given the price, I'm only tempted for special needs like the caboose noted above. -Gary
I suspect that this is a photoshopped HO model with an N-scale coupler. At least, it looks awfully close to their HO picture. And the fine structures underneath can hardly be done like this in N-scale.
Nope, the HO Zahori ethanol tanker is clearly different. Especially the decals, but you'll notice very subtle differences in things like the tank structure, undercarriage details, and trucks.
I agree with PW&NJ here, I think it is a bona fide photo of an N scale model. Here is a head-to-head comparison: http://www.athearn.com/ProdInfo/LargeImages/ATH24361.jpg http://www.athearn.com/ProdInfo/LargeImages/ATH97633.jpg The fact that the differences are quite subtle is a tribute to what a nice N scale model this is. -Gary
I'm not interested in Athearn's new metal wheels since I prefer Atlas smooth rolling LP wheels. I do like Athearn cars and plan on buying more.
I have 15 of the Athearn Thrall Rio Grande coal hoppers, which are pretty heavy cars and have a fair amount of rolling resistance. I might be interested in replacing the standard brown plastic wheels with metal wheelsets if this would cause a noticeable reduction in rolling resistance. Does anyone have any opinions on how much of a difference metal wheels would make, and does anyone know if other options from FVM or BLMA would actually fit the Athearn trucks for these Athearn Thrall coal hoppers?
Well, then you won't own any Micro-Trains, Atlas, or Intermountain anything either. All of them have similarly higher-priced metal wheels to replace their plastic version. The fact that FVM and BLMA are producing better product at lower cost is just a bonus.
Athearn has neither the staff nor the time to photoshop a picture. They simply leave the line art on their website instead.
The real point being...Athearn has an 'oddball' sized axle...by all accounts exclusive to them. They then make an 'oddball' sized metal wheel set and are gonna charge upwards of 50% more then other metal wheelset manufactures. The rest was throwin in as garbage on top of garbage..:tb-wacky:
Well, if all this means that new Athearn cars will now come with metal wheels, that's good news to me. Athearn's plastic wheels were some of the worst in the industry. Now they're catching up with BLMA, exactrail, and others.
Actually I have put FVM 3301 axles ( .540" ) in most of my Athearn cars, or ExactRail wheels sometimes. Normally they work well, some are turning not so freely but still better than the plastic wheels. Some variations in the tolerances are normal, the truck sides are flexible plastic. So to me the Athearn axle size does not look oddball at all. And the "unique" trucks mentioned here are the caboose trucks with axle generator, which are exceptionally good-looking . Concerning the pictures I remember that woo woo woo have the 50' box cars shown which seem to have metal wheels. It seems that they use their own pictures. We'll see what we get, the wheels are due in the middle of next year, still a long time until then.
And again, so does everyone else have an oddball sized axle. That is why there are multiple p/n's and sizes for FVM wheels. One for MTL, One for Atlas, One for Con-Cor, et al. So guess what, at some point FVM will probably have a size for Athearn, if the market is there. Why is that any different? I agree with Gary, non-issue except for a few select trucks. Just replace 'em with BLMA's or whatever. If they're nicely done, it will be nice to have the new wheels on new releases, that's how I'm looking at it.
