Hi folks, after a bit of advice here – I am currently rebuilding a 7 1/4 inch model locomotive. I thought things were going along nicely until I measured the distance between the wheels. Being a 7 1/4 inch gauge I expected the distance between the outsides of the flanges to be a tad over 7 1/4 inches. It's actually quite a lot less than that at about 6 7/8. The wheels are wide enough so that it's not going to fall through the track but is this likely to cause me any problems? It's a pretty big job to make new axles and to sort the quartering, which I would rather avoid as the loco is now well progressed. I wish I had checked it earlier but took it for granted that it would be ok as it is a very well run loco. Thanks in advance.

I should have said – I compared it with another loco, which is where I got the measurement reference points from. With the bit of test rail that I have there is a good 3/16 or more between the inner edge of the rail and the flanges on the wheels. I also have a 040 Romulus and the distance between flanges on that is a generous 7 1/4. For interest the distance between the inside edges of the flanges is approx. 6 5/8 inches.

Thanks for the information , gentlemen, looks like I have some extra work to do….