Six years ago North American Railcar introduced their first product (The Green Saskatchewan Grain Covered Hopper).

    With it came many industry leading innovations, the most acclaimed feature was a totally redesigned truck and wheel set.  Not only did these trucks and wheels roll more freely but they introduced features never before seen on HO scale rolling stock.

    Why do the trucks and wheels roll more freely?  Let’s go back to high school physics 101:  

   1. Friction is a function of contact- meaning less contact, less friction. 

   2. Friction is also a function of the “slipperiness” of the surfaces making contact.

Phase I:

      Let’s look at the axle, specifically the tips.  If we made the tips sharper and then polished the tip removing any micro scratches and burrs, this would use both of the above laws of friction to make the axle run smother with less friction.

    Don’t forget about the truck.  It has to be made of a very hard material that naturally has a very smooth slippery surface to accommodate a very sharp axle tip.

      Yes these trucks and wheel sets cost a bit more than mediocre trucks. But NARCorp isn’t in business to produce products that meet the “LCD” (Lowest Common Denominator” and perpetuate mediocrity.  It is our aim to push the envelope by thinking out of the box.  So with trucks made from very hard smooth surface plastic, redesigned to accommodate an axle that is ground at a sharper angle and to a very sharp tip, and then polished to a mirror like finish, NARCorp has solved the first stage of an all new truck and wheel set.

Phase II

     Another area of friction is where the wheel contacts the rail.  The model railroad industry has accepted wheels that have a tread that is about 8 to 10 inches wide (1:1 scale).  Obviously the railroad industry knows that a wide tread causes more friction than a narrow tread.  Why then does the Model Railroad industry dive to the “LCD” of a wide tread?  NMRA has set standards for “Fat Freddies” to accommodate the “LCD” of track and turnouts that were made years ago and are still in use on a lot of club layouts.  Most manufacturers have upgraded the quality of their track and are now producing track and turnouts with tighter specifications.  So why not upgrade the wheel specs so that the wheel does not slide (a polite word for producing friction) from side to side.

And, yes NARCorp also manufactures “Fat Freddies” to fit the “High Performance Low Friction” trucks for those with layouts with old out of spec track.

Two other features that a discerning eye will catch: 

1. NARCorp introduced “Foundry” marking that alltrucks have along the upper edge of the truck frame.

    2. Hey! Check out the simulated load with the springs being compressed about 25% of full compression.  They look far more realistic.

Fine Print: 

  1. These NARCorp High Performance Low Friction Trucks^© will only work as a matched set.  They will not work if you use these trucks with other manufacturer’s wheels or these wheels in other manufacturer’s trucks. 

  2. The NARCorp High Performance Low Friction Trucks^© will work with most major manufacturer’s rolling stock.  They are not designed to work with Inter Mountain rolling stock without major modifications to the rolling stock. 

  3. If you are planning to improve the quality of you layout, check out the “High Performance MagnaLock Break Lines”^©.  They will make you rolling stock look like the real railroad and operate like the real railroad.  NO MORE UGLY TRIP PINS. 

Click Here to See the MagnaLock Brake Lines^© in Action

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