Is there any sort of general timeline when German (and Austrian) railways started converting from spoked wheels to solid wheels? I’m wanting to convert my German LGB railcars to metal wheels, and so I was wanting to know which would be more appropriate. All of my cars are based on prototypes from the 70s and 80s.

My suggestion would be to try and find online pictures of the rolling stock in question, and see if you can tell what kind of wheels are under it.

And both LGB and Trainli have single and double spoked wheels which are really metal rims. Trainli are stainless which are the lightest metal wheels I have found.

Dan, yes, but what German prototype cars, from what eras, would one find the various types (solid or spoked) under?

And one would have to consider are we discussing standard gauge or narrow gauge. I suspect that spoked wheels lasted longer in service on narrow gauge railways than on standard gauge. I would say the change probably happened after the 2nd world war as the railways rebuilt themselves. I have seen pics of a mix of spoked and solids in war time and prewar pics, but mostly solids after the war. I would look at what Epoch you want to model and then research that period of German or Austrian railroading. Mike

So, since the OP said " All of my cars are based on prototypes from the 70s and 80s.", then it would be a safe bet that they all probably had solid wheels?