5 minute makeover: N wheels (N part 41)...

Today brings a revival of my old '5 minute makeover' blogs, this time considering wheel sets for a second time...

Whereas that considered H0 wheel standards, and my adoption of RP25 Code 88 wheel sets as a 'standard' on my North American layout, here we are looking at N scale 9mm gauge. One of the trademarks of N gauge in my child hood was it's steam roller wheels with cookie cutter flanges. I'm not sure these awful wheels were ever really necessary and certainly over time we've seen an evolution on quality of wheel sets in general across the scales (although sadly not adopted by Hornby, and dreadfully large flanges on their latest TT120 venture).

These two photos rather crudely show the progression in quality from 'old Farish' to where we are today. I'll be honest, current Farish is good enough for me on the whole, the wheel centres are nicely detailed, the wheels blackened and the flanges nicely fine. In fact I've more a problem with Dapol's current offering which is too large a diameter despite having nicely narrower tyres and a reasonable flange.

What is the answer? Well Greenwich and Mosskito offer 6.2mm wheel sets (amongst others) designed for 009 but very useful in N gauge as well. In this photo one how the Greenwich set has a much neater flange, narrow tread and more realistic, finer appearance. Since these photos were taken I have sourced some Mosskito versions with the 3 holes, perfect for a project I'm working on at present, and I will share that soon... so one quick change you can make to any older Farish (or current Dapol) model is to pop out those wheels and put in something much more realistic, true running and well made - and comparable to Farish wheel sets in terms of price. These will be my 'go to' choice now for all future work in the scale - thanks Neil for bringing these to market. Get yours from Light Railway Stores now! Until next time, more soon.

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