The German Part of jwb's Layout

[Schraddel]

It is not only the wheels. Often the model or parts of it are distorted to made them suitable for accepting toy train wheels.
Your old Röwa Box Car was one of the best models of an European UIC standard box car, i too own several of them. But this model have a bugbear.
Have a look onto the distance between the outer wheelrim to the axle journal mounting device.


A prototype photo of another car to show what i mean. This is an older car without brake equipment.


A bunch of different wheelsets.
From left to right:
- Proto87 (really 1:87 scale dimensions)
- RP25/Code 93 (some smaller then usual RP25/Code 110)
- NEM310 (with maximal measures)
- Märklin (1960's with those 1.6mm deep flanges; note lack of radius between wheelrim and flange)
- Trix Express (a now out of use system with heavily overdimensioned flanges)

For the latter one Trix Express System the Röwa Box Car was made. Constructed by Willi Ade in the middle of the 1960's for Trix it was like a bright star rising. Never before such an level of fine details was realized. But the bugbear was to accept the Trix Express wheelsets with their overdimensional flanges.
For this, as you can see on your own car, the device of blind axle bearings was made. And this is an explanation for the rectangular openings in the bottom of the car just above the wheels.
In fact the running gear and frame of this car was far too wide.


A long time i accepted this, but then i started over to do something against these toy train aspects. Here an other Röwa box car was demounted and the frame was cut with an micro circular saw. On both sides of the frame a stripe of app. 2mm was cut away and the underbody then remounted. But it was then 4mm narrower.

Later the mould of Röwa were taken over by Roco and with some alterations they are manufactured until today.


Upper: A car (Roco) in the stage of beeing bashed. The cut outs were made to accept the short coupling devices.
Lower: A Röwa car of the same type. The borings for the axle stubs were set direct into the moulded axle bearings. Additional the car got a 3-point suspension. Two of the holes, on one end of the car bored for the axle stubs, were made to an oval shape in vertical manner so that the axle can travel up and down into them. The piece of brass wire seen on the photo is an additional middle axle bearing. So in this manner the axle can rock an all 4 wheels are everytime on the railhead, even on uneven rails. Now you are able to reduce the flange heights of the wheels dangerless to 0.5mm. Dangerless because all 4 wheels are allways onto the rails and the reduced flanges will work under nearly all circumstances. Of course it is primitive, but it works flawless.
This is a depart from the toy train system were only the deep flanges kept care for not derailing.


Left: The original with much too wide underframe.
Right: The narrowed underframe.


Left: Still another box car of this Röwa/Roco sort. A later production model with original Roco short coupling device. Also narrowed, 3-point suspension and turned down flanges.
Right: A Fleischmann box car, also of UIC Standard Type. It was a later construction with an prototype narrow underframe. Also bashed with an 3-point suspension in form of a rocker leverage. Note hoe the wheels are turned down to meet NMRA RP25/110 Standards. In their original shape they even do not meet NEM310 Standards! Real toy train wheels.

Lutz