I can't speak for North American practice, but in the UK loco tyres had an
allowance for re-profiling before the tyres were replaced.
This could be up to 3" off the diameter before new tyres had to be fitted. In
Victorian times, wheels had thinner tyres, and only 1.5" could be removed
before replacement. They were beefed up to provide the extra, which is one
reason there are some apparently odd driving wheel sizes over here: 55.5" and
61.5" seem odd, until you realise that once upon a time they would have been
4.5' and 5'...
If it was the same over there, then the easy solution is to make sure that the
drivers are to the correct diameter over the flange, which would still allow
for a 1/16th deep flange in S scale - surely enough for our scale?
Some UK locos (such as the GNR large atlantic preserved in York Museum) had
wheels so close together that it is difficult to fit fingers between the
flanges when fresh out of shops, so modellers over here learned to fit smaller
wheels when not using scale tyre profiles. When it turned out that the
prototype could and would turn the wheels down and create a bit more room
between closely-spaced drivers, then the "modeller's licence" was no longer
required.
Regards all - and goodnight from over here!
Simon Dunkley
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