There is a paper wheel set sitting derelict in Durango Yard. I have talked with the D&S Museum Curator about this wheelset. Once the snow melts enough that I can get to it, I plan to pull the set out and clean it up for an exhibit. I'm told, BTW, that our tourist sleeper still has paper wheels under it, but I haven't looked to confirm that.

Preparatory for this little restoration project, I have a couple questions:

1. How widespread was the use of paper wheels on 3' gauge equipment, both nationwide and specifically in the Narrow Gauge Circle?

2. How common are paper wheel survivors today? Both in general and narrow gauge?

I'm pretty sure I've seen an exhibit somewhere of a (standard gauge) paper wheel cut to show the paper inside. Maybe the Smithsonian? I can't remember where. I think I've seen one other paper wheelset in a railroad museum, too, but again can't remember where (RMPA, B&O, Steamtown, or CA State?).

I'm thinking of undoing the bolts on one wheel of our set to show the paper centers, assuming the bolts don't give too much trouble. Thoughts?

--
-Matt Conrad

There is a caboose on the grounds of StoneGablesEstate.com in Elizabethtown, PA with two paper wheelsets. Often called the "Star Barn" this is the home of the Lincoln Funeral Car Replica and the Kloke built copy of the Central Pacific Jupiter.

First question that comes to my mind is, are they really paper wheels? The Allen Co. and others also made a variety of 'plate wheel' that had the characteristic bolt heads on the wheel plate, but contained a cast iron filler rather than paper. These lasted considerably longer than the paper filled variety, and I suspect that most people reporting paper wheels are looking at these. But, there is always hope.

I've been told the ex-BCG&A business car in the Henry Ford has paper wheels.

Aarne Frobom

There was s good discussion on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum a few weeks ago regarding DRGW 270 and the use of paper wheels on the narrow gauge. It may be helpful.

https://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.ph ... msg-449650

MD Ramsey

Colorado Midland Chair Car No. 111 at the CRRM I believe has paper wheels, along with several of their narrow gauge cars.

MDR

Paper wheels were very common on the narrow gauge in Colorado.
Most of the business cars had them.

Many paper wheel sets have survived in preservation.
As M.D. Ramsey said CM car 111 at the Colorado Railroad Museum has some. D&RGW car B-8 only has paper wheels and still runs. RGS business car Rico/B-21 has a set in one truck.
The wheels under the B-8 actually came from the D&S, they were sitting in the yard in Hermosa.


I have seen the paper wheels under the sleeper in Durango. Don't remember how many it had. That car also has 6' wheel base Pullman trucks as well IIRC.

The last time I was at Antique Powerland, Brooks Oregon, the steam wrecker crane had a archbar truck with paper wheels used for demonstrations. Its been several years so things may have changed.

"Why luxury train carriages had wheels made of actual paper - Allen Paper Wheels"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_b2r8MdQ_M

The Smithsonian owns a few paper wheels, presently in storage.

K.R. Bell

These paper railroad wheels do remind me of the "Steel Tires" over rubber "Linings" on "Steel Wheels" that where used in the train sets involved in the Eschede train wreck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschede_train_disaster

That system used a rubber "layer" between the solid wheel and the solid tire as a method to reduce noise inside the passenger railroad car.

Seems like a similar "attempt" to reduce noise and improve the "smoothness" of the ride as the Paper Wheel method ?

I believe that both the "Paper Wheels" and the "Rubber between the Wheels and the Tire" have been banished from railroad applications ?

"Paper" wheels are only incidentally made of sheets of paper -- they are an early form of strong composite material. They were made of thousands of sheets of stiff paper impregnated with adhesive, then given heavy hydraulic pressure until set. Steel face plates were then cross-bolted across most of the face of the wheel. One of the principal points of failure was cracking and disintegration around these boltholes.

As with the rubber-spring craze in the 1830s, and the Winans friction wheel the decade before... the marvelous ride quality that was essentially (as in the ICE trains) part of the primary-suspension shock absorption and NVH reduction came at a high and ultimately dangerous price. As with the Allied Full Cushion there wasn't any real way to guarantee a given example in service was safe, and even today some of the more popular NDT methods wouldn't work very well or at all...