Measuring Wheels

There's one glitch with the state-of-the-art, true-to-scale Tillig Elite track: older PIKO rolling stock doesn't run properly on it. More exactly, the wheel flanges touch the simulated bolts holding the track down. The stuff made back in the '80s is a definite no-no, while the equipement manufactered in the beginning of the 90s seems at first glance to be ok, but at a closer look some have wheels barely touching the ties, rendering them unfit for running on this new track. While the locos of that day clearly cannot match the performances of today's engines with their super-smooth running and excellent slow speed capability, the cars made back then are still looking

good. If one is to ignore that unreal bow-coupler used on every item, all it takes is a wheel exchange to make them fit for service again. Luckily, PIKO manufactures replacing wheels and, just like the locos of today, they too provide a superior experience. You can find their complete range here. So far, I've ordered several 56051, and they are perfect for those 2-bogies cars, where the tin used to hold the wheels together has room to expand. For the 4-wheels cars, like the one in the photo, they also work, although they don't seem to be have the same smooth rolling as the old ones. Using the caliper (upper right side of the photo) revealed only a minor difference between the lenghts of the old axles and the new ones : about 0.2mm extra for the new ones. So it could be either this, either a different form of the cone at the end of each axle that slighly affects performance. Nonetheless, it performs in a satisfactory manner, and as such i will continue ordering these, plus some 56050 to be used on an 1990s DBze double decker car.

The white wheels are the old ones, while the 3 axles closest to the laptop are the type used on the DBze. A final note: opening the car caused one of the plastic pins to brake. It has now been glued back on, but opening the car in this way has nothing to do with exchanging the wheels, it was pure curiosity.