American steam locomotive tire and wheel rim thickness?

[Guest WM183]

Hi folks.

I need to make a set of wheels! I have a lathe and a mill, and I am a fairly competent machinist. I plan to turn the inner wheel rim from brass, and then apply a tire of nickel silver or mild steel (i likely cannot find nickel silver in a large enough diameter) so I can insulate one side - anyway. How thick should the tire on a steam loco be? I am making a set of 63 inch drivers for an Erie mikado, and 63 inches was the most common size wheel on this type across the US. I figure there's got to be a diagram somewhere -  I just don't own one! I plan to use a method basically identical to this: https://www.proto48.org/p48_art_05.htm

I just need to know how thick to make the tire and rim, if anyone knows, before I just decide to try to "eyeball" it.

Thanks much,

Amanda

[Regularity]

It seems to vary, according to era and builder. Olde locos such as 4-4-0’s seem to have very thick rims on the castings, if not the tyres, but they do become slimmer with more modern engines. 
I would hazard a guess at some drawings of which I have copies as no more than 4” for the rim of the casting plus the tyre (excluding the flange) but even that might be a touch big. I have been through my library, and no one mentions this aspect of things!

 

By the way, if working to P:48, you may wish to go the whole hog and have thinner flanges on some wheel sets. This drawing of a USRA mikado is easily found on the web:

 

[jasond]

Something to read.  It says 60mm early on, but not specifically about Erie 2-8-2s....

https://the-contact-patch.com/book/rail/r1610-the-wheelset

 

Jason