Traction Tires for Diesels and Electrics?

[shaygetz]

Apparently they are standard equipment on BLI Steamers... that cost me alot to buy, and as it turns out, my Lionel challenger can't pull a 9 car train of 36' hoppers up that grade. I know that on the straight and level, that thing can out-pull most other locomotives.

My Rivarossis have them too and they are hardly low end. There was a day when most models came with them. Then, in the mid 70s, there was a big push in the modeling community, lead by MR magazine, to stop putting them on locos. Some companies responded by simply giving the buyer an optional driver that you could replace the tire with. Eventually, most companies stopped adding them. The tires that come on Rivarossi and BLI locos are able to slip when overloaded, most of the clear tires do. I use Stewarts to replace the rubber ones that come on AHM, Jeouff and Fleischmann diesels for that reason. If I can, I cannibalize other units for their drivers to replace the traction tired ones.

Because I'm not familiar with the performance of that particular model, I'd go with your confidence in it, checking the motor after a couple laps just to make sure it isn't too warm.

does adding traction to the wheels really put that much of a strain on it?

Not necessarily, the clear tires on Rivarossi steam and BLI grip well but slip enough. Life-Like and Bachmann on the other hand, will bounce like a bad check, hopping right off the track most every time. Others will simply grip 'til the motor smokes itself. If a locomotive cannot slip under load, there is no way of really knowing if your pushing your motor to its limits. That's usually where motor burnout comes from.