Wagon wheels - NOT the chocolate biscuit !

[Dancess]

Am looking to replace wheels on some of my old Farish wagons but unsure of whether spoked or 3 hole disc would be correct, can a generalisation be applied that wooden bodied had spoked wheels while others had disc variety?

Many thanks

[talisman56]

3-hole disc wheels were generally used on wooden-bodied wagons too. I have a similar question outstanding prompted by the Peco wagon chassis kits being supplied with spoked wheels and me having to buy sets of disc wheels to replace the spoked ones on my NGS SR van, and shock wagon/van kits...

[PLD]

Am looking to replace wheels on some of my old Farish wagons but unsure of whether spoked or 3 hole disc would be correct, can a generalisation be applied that wooden bodied had spoked wheels while others had disc variety?

Many thanks

Unfortunately it's not as simple as that...

There are several factors to consider

• When the wagon was built - newer wagons would generally have had solid wheels from new, however wagons could have received replacements of either style. There were plenty of examples with different types on each axle!
• Who built the wagon - some private builders carried on using spoked wheels at least into the 1950s whereas Big 4 built wagons were virtually all solid wheels before WW2
• Intended use and service speed - wagons intended for faster, longer services would generally have solid wheels. Slow coal wagons for example would often have kept spoked wheels for longer.