I just replaced the wheel sets in a pair of Kadee Vulcan trucks with
narrow-tread wheel sets (should I write wheelsets instead?) from
Intermountain. The replacement wheel sets appeared to have an axle
length very similar to the old Kadee axles. I did not measure them.
There was quite a bit of side-to-side movement possible with either
wheel sets. This did not seem to affect the rolling qualities at
all. Appearance was improved though.

Wheel sets from Reboxx with longer axles would take up some of that
side-to-side slack but is that important? Given the cone shape of
the bearing and axle tip, wouldn't the axles tend to be self-
centering?

Has anyone experimented with a narrower (shorter) replacement truck
bolster for Kadee trucks? Most model trucks apppear to me to be
wider than if a prototype truck was literally scaled down to HO or, I
suppose, any other scale for that matter. Couldn't slightly narrower
bolsters be machined from brass or something?

Has anyone ever replaced the wheel sets in old Central Valley
trucks? I guess one would drill out the rivet (or rivets in the case
of six wheel trucks) and replace the rivet with a small machine
screw. Is this worth doing from an operational point of view? Is it
worth doing for appearance given that passenger car trucks are
usually less visible from the end that are freight car trucks?

Gene Green
Who is finally back to modeling. I spend a lot of time on my knees,
not in prayer, but looking for lost parts.