Jan
To answer your question, my understanding is that on real freight cars you
can not "see" thru the springs anyway. Many on the Steam Freight Car list
you cited www.steamfreightcars.com (and the STMFC yahoo list) object to "see
thru" spring clusters and do not use sprung trucks for that reason. Some
will glue a piece of styrene behind the spring area and paint it black to
fill in the space. But this still leaves you with two coil springs, while
prototype freight trucks had 6, 8 or more coil springs. Further the
objection is the metal springs used in sprung trucks are too large with the
coils spaced too far apart to be realistic representations of the actual
springs used on freight trucks. Those seeking the most prototypically
correct looking models op for cast one piece trucks. The "Prototype Police"
and Rivet Counters" on the two above lists (most are the same folks)
especially like Accurail's "Bettendorf" and Andrews truck frames as being
the most accurate renditions in HO scale.
Jeff Wilson in the latest issue of MR has a good basic article on Freight
Trucks, including currently available models. For even more info the Railway
Prototype Cyclopedia Vol 4 had an extensive article by Richard Hendrickson.
I have some sprung trucks on my models, but find many do not roll as well,
the equalization does not work because the springs are too strong, and you
can see thru the spring area. Some are just plain lousy for rolling
characteristics as well. Others just do not look good. I have been
stockpiling Accurail truck frames for those older models that have lousy
trucks. I also replace almost all wheelsets with InterMountain metal
wheelsets. Haven't gone to the .088 width as InterMountain does not sell
them in the 100 count bulk paks. I have given up on the Kadee and even PK2
wheelsets because 1) the wheels are not always true on the axle and 2) the
plastic axle points accumulate the same gunk found on plastic wheels.
Eventually this slows down the truck and causes drag.
While I appreciate prototype fidelity in modeling, I also have a layout on
which we operate, and performance is equally importance to appearance. IM
metal axle points in the slippery plastic truck frames gives superior
rolling performance and with a little weathering still look good.
One tip I would offer, no matter what truck you use, get "The Tool". This is
the roller/cutter you can use to clean out and even reshape the cone shape
receptors for axle points. I now use it on every model I assemble to
correctly shape, clean and prepare the trucks before installing wheelsets. I
have even managed to salvage pot metal and brass trucks using this simple
tool to shape the holes correctly. It is also great for cleaning out paint
and gunk.
Doug Harding
Iowa Central Railroad
www.iowatelecom.net/~dharding/
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