07-21-2010, 12:31 PM
I've been converting to metal wheels only as I upgrade my rolling stock, most recently. But before that I began converting because I was part of a modular club. I was in the collecting rolling stock mode, and meeting regularly with guys who run long trains around a modular layout. The research they had done showed that plastic wheels gathered more 'gunk' (that's the technical term, I believe) than metal wheels. The additional weight didn't hurt either, but as Kevin alluded to, it's negligible.
The free-rolling metal wheels (combined with a quick reaming by 'The Tool') made longer trains possible. I had converted a passenger train to metal wheels & truck-mounted kadees and it operated flawlessly without any additional weight, backing down around a wye curve and through a yard ladder on the club layout.
On my own timesaver layout I established a rule that all equipment to be run on the layout MUST have metal wheels, so as not to bring the gunk from the plastic wheels onto the track. But I generally was running less than a dozen cars in total. On the club layout you didn't have to have metal wheels, but it was recommended. I made it a mostly mandatory practice for my home layout in order to minimize track cleaning.
If your layout is indoors in a clean, dust free environment, you may not have as much an issue with dirty track and wheels. But if you model in a garage or out in public as on a modular setup, it's much more an issue and I believe the metal wheels make a difference there. Plus, I like the way they sound. The clickety-clacks are more pronounced.
Galen
The free-rolling metal wheels (combined with a quick reaming by 'The Tool') made longer trains possible. I had converted a passenger train to metal wheels & truck-mounted kadees and it operated flawlessly without any additional weight, backing down around a wye curve and through a yard ladder on the club layout.
On my own timesaver layout I established a rule that all equipment to be run on the layout MUST have metal wheels, so as not to bring the gunk from the plastic wheels onto the track. But I generally was running less than a dozen cars in total. On the club layout you didn't have to have metal wheels, but it was recommended. I made it a mostly mandatory practice for my home layout in order to minimize track cleaning.
If your layout is indoors in a clean, dust free environment, you may not have as much an issue with dirty track and wheels. But if you model in a garage or out in public as on a modular setup, it's much more an issue and I believe the metal wheels make a difference there. Plus, I like the way they sound. The clickety-clacks are more pronounced.
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!