Better track, wheels, and couplers

Read this N scale column from the March 2012 Model Railroader

By Jim Kelly

Published: January 27, 2012

The modern N scale model railroad cars on the right have such improvements as working knuckle couplers, wire and etched-metal details, and low-profile metal wheelsets.

Several years ago Atlas introduced its code 55 N scale track, and soon a great wail rose up from some in the N scale community. Beautiful as the track was, the wheels that came standard with
Micro-Trains cars bumped against the track’s molded spike heads as the cars rolled along. The solution was to replace the wheels or grind down the flanges a bit. (I’ve never tried this, but I’ve read that it’s easily accomplished by pushing the trucks across a piece of fine sandpaper at an angle so that the wheels are turning but with enough resistance to reduce the flange depth simultaneously.)

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