Talk:NCC Class Y

Reversing the wheels?
Ok, what exactly do you mean by reversing the wheels? I’m asking because I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Dinoboyaz (talk) 16:18, 4 December 2017 (UTC)
 * The wheels are spoked cast steel, with a steel tyre shrunk over the outer rim. As the wheel is thicker at its centre boss than at the rim under the tyre, and the frames are set apart as far as possible over the rails (to give as much space between them as possible) it's usual for a cast wheel centre to be asymmetric. The spokes are tapering and triangular in radial section, almost a right-angled triangle with the right angle on the inside face.
 * If you turn the wheel centres over on the axles, and replace their tyres, then they will have a wider gauge. If the wheels have a couple of inches offset, this is enough to do it (the offset reverses, and is on two wheels, so its overall effect is four times that of one centre; just over an inch and half each is enough to do it). The new tyres are then machined to set the flange profile just as needed.
 * A similar process was used for some European locos (notable Begian 2-10-0s) during WWI. They were captured by the German Army, then converted and shipped East for use on captured Russian 5' gauge lines on the Eastern front. After WWI, the Soviets took some  DRB class 52 heavy freight locos as reparations, and did the same. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:18, 4 December 2017 (UTC)