Philip Tattershall
Hi Chris,
It’s a very tempting proposition but I don’t think it will work satisfactorily. There are two problems, the second more serious than the first.
1 You’ll need to pull out each driving wheel by about 1.2mm to increase the back-to-back from around 14.2mm to 16.5mm. That’s 1.2mm less of the wheel thickness that is still pressed on to the axle and any stress applied to the outside of the wheel is more likely to result in wobbles, i.e. the wheel/axle fixing will be less sturdy.
2 The thickness of a Bachmann flange (from a Jubilee 4-6-0) I’ve just measured at about 1mm and the dimension of the flangeway on EM pointwork is 1mm so the wheel just fits with no allowance for clearances/errors. I’ve just re-assembled a pair of the Jubilee wheels on an axle with a 16.5mm back-to-back and they sit very firmly on the track with no side-to-side movement and have to be dragged through a point. A loco fitted with these would not run satisfactorily on plain track, let alone through pointwork.
I don’t know what if any variation there is in Bachmann wheel profile between different models but I doubt whether you would find the Hall to be much if any better than my Jubilee.
Sorry that I don’t bring good news.
Phil Tattershall