S7 wheels from Peartree Engineering

daifly

daifly

Western Thunderer
The following has been posted on the S7 Group website in the Members area. It is possible that some Group members may not have seen this or, worse still, some S7 modellers who are not S7 Group members will not be able to. Here is the text:

SCALE 7 WHEELS

I have during the past couple of years had cause to purchase several sets of S7 wheels made by Peartree Engineering and I have been impressed with both the quality and value for money. The current range covers a number of variations of both wagon and carriage steel wheels fitted on steel axles, complete with insulation and chemical blackening

At the January Bristol 'O' Gauge Show I asked proprietor Malcolm Fisher if he planned to produce some S7 diesel wheels and axles, because I currently have a Heljan diesel that I want to convert to S7. I could of course just set the existing wheels up in my lathe and turn them to S7 standards, however, I would like to retain the standard wheel sets just in case I want to re-convert this, or any other converted diesel locomotive in the future, especially when it might provide flexibility for any possible future re-sale.

Malcolm is prepared to turn up a small batch of S7 plain disc diesel locomotive wheel ses at a cost of circa £6 - £7 per wheel set, with axles of 3/16th diameter and wheel profiles to S7 standards, provided that he can get a minimum order run of about 36 axle sets of a given diameter. I would thus ask that if anyone reading this is interested, that they please email Malcolm at info@modelrailwayparts.com with an indication of their interest and likely order requirements and also if possible copy email me (tony@dairywell.fsnet.co.uk), so that I can then monitor the likely demand and report back accordingly. If this level of interest can be generated then Malcolm has indicated that he would then commit to production

Tony Phillips

Dave
 
Oz7mm

Oz7mm

Western Thunderer
Malcolm is always prepared to add to his range if there's sufficient interest and we follow through with orders.

He did a batch of wheels for my Australian wagons and I wanted a particular dished profile and he even made a special tool to create the dished effect on the face. He's very supportive of S7 and very willing to help us. He asked me recently if there would be any interest in him producing track gauges of various typed for S7. Now's your chance.

John
 
ZiderHead

ZiderHead

Western Thunderer
His adjustable 3-point gauge looks very handy, with ±1.5mm could be used for S7 or O-MF as well as vanilla O.
 
Dan Randall

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Oz7mm said:
Malcolm is always prepared to add to his range if there's sufficient interest and we follow through with orders.
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Oz7mm said:

He did a batch of wheels for my Australian wagons and I wanted a particular dished profile and he even made a special tool to create the dished effect on the face. He's very supportive of S7 and very willing to help us. He asked me recently if there would be any interest in him producing track gauges of various typed for S7. Now's your chance.

John
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S7 wagon & coach wheels (UK outline), with dished front AND rear faces, would get my wallet opening pretty fast! :thumbs:


Regards

Dan
 
Oz7mm

Oz7mm

Western Thunderer
As Malcolm is always looking for new products I suggest we co-ordinate what we want and order from him. Alternately perhaps the S7 Group stores could look at ordering in reasonable quantities if we clarify what we want.

Dan - I think dished on both sides might add a fair bit to the cost.

John
 
daifly

daifly

Western Thunderer
A sizeable majority of diesel locomotive types require either 3'7" or 3'9" wheels so, apart from the spoked types - e.g. North British Type 2 or Swindon Type 1 'Teddy Bear', they would be the obvious places to start. Add in a 3' pony/DMU wheel and most models are provided for.
 
mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
daifly said:
A sizeable majority of diesel locomotive types require either 3'7" or 3'9" wheels so, apart from the spoked types - e.g. North British Type 2 or Swindon Type 1 'Teddy Bear', they would be the obvious places to start. Add in a 3' pony/DMU wheel and most models are provided for.
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You can add in all the AL3 and Woodhead EM1 locos (will have to check EM2 later) with spoked wheels, as well as class 16 and I think 71/74; I think slaters offer these anyway or as near as matters. Other than that your right, the vast majority of diesels were 3'7" or 3'9", not sure what the middle axle is on a 31 and possibly Falcon.
 
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S

S7BcSR

Western Thunderer
I find the reaction on here very interesting as I don't seem to remember many responses from you all when I had produced some steel 3' 7" S7 diesel wheels last year which were correctly profiled on both sides of the wheel. OK these were from plans of the Class 37/9 and class 50 wheel but they would probably be over 90% accurate for most of the 3' 7" wheels. Yes there were one or two lessons to be learnt from that production run but owing to the non-response from more than 3 people I have not gone for a re-run of the wheels or tried to have produced any further wheels. These were advertised in the S7 Newsletter but so little take up.

This is intended as a genuine comment not intended to be seen as sour grapes because I welcome any thing that helps to bring new S7 items to the table.

However I will say how pleased I am to see some people looking at the S7 website and noticing that there are some new pages etc. Keep looking because there will be more changes and new items coming on line over the next month or two.

Rob
 
ZiderHead

ZiderHead

Western Thunderer
Oz7mm said:
I think dished on both sides might add a fair bit to the cost.

John
Click to expand...

It would definitely be worth asking - the FS loco wheels are already machined flat on the backs so it may not add that much work at all to dish the rears too while they are mounted. And bear in mind that the FS loco wheels are only £5 an axle inc bearings! Slaters are £14 with no bearings … I reckon all-steel, turned front and back, blackened wheelsets with bearings for a little less than Slaters should fly off the shelves :)

(and hopefully if the S7 guys insist on it for their wheelsets, maybe the FS guys will also get dished rears. I could use a set to replace my Hymek's brass, almost course scale 3'9"s)
 
Dan Randall

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Rob - I'd forgotten about the dished-both-sides diesel wheels and think I may have seen you showing them around at Brightwell (last year?).

Perhaps the poor response was simply that modellers were not building (or intending to build), Class 37s or Class 50s at the time? Even if someone was intending to build one, they'd only need 12 wheels, whereas if they wanted 20 x 4 wheel wagons to hang on the back of it, they'd have a requirement for 80 wheels. Everyone needs wagons (and a few coaches), so I'm pretty sure there would be a greater interest if fully profiled rolling stock wheels became a reality.


Regards

Dan

 
S

S7BcSR

Western Thunderer
Dan - if I remember I will bring the demo set down to Brightwell again this year (April 11th) so that people can see what was produced. I only had some 60+ axles worth produced and apart from 2 axles left (no use to anybody) they all sold. I was just a little disappointed that there wasn't more interest shown even if that was only to say I would be interested if you could produce a 3' 9" wheel or something like that.

I agree entirely that it would be nice to have fully profiled rolling stock wheels but I don't think that I would be the one to have those produced, but you never know. I wonder just how many people would be interested? They would need to be produced at a cost effective price. Of course you will always have a need for more rolling stock wheels than loco wheels and hence they should be more cost effective to produce. It is possible to do as Slater's have been able to do it on the latest S7 steam loco wheels even though they are plastic.

One problem with producing more diesel wheels is the apparent lack of works drawings for these - I was lucky in getting the Class 37 drawings - but looking for, say, a Class 52 is an impossibility. I have made numerous enquiries as I thought this was a potential runner but it seems that there just aren't any works drawings for this loco - unless someone on here knows where there are some.

Rob
 
Dan Randall

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Thanks Rob. I look forward to seeing both you and wheels at Brightwell on the 11th. No lunch for me, but please pencil me in for a sticky name badge. :thumbs:


Regards

Dan
 
D816Foxhound

D816Foxhound

Western Thunderer
One problem with producing more diesel wheels is the apparent lack of works drawings for these - I was lucky in getting the Class 37 drawings - but looking for, say, a Class 52 is an impossibility. I have made numerous enquiries as I thought this was a potential runner but it seems that there just aren't any works drawings for this loco - unless someone on here knows where there are some.

Rob

Rob,

As far as I know, all the works drawings for Class 52s and any other BR diesel are held by Serco at Derby, or whoever took over RTC Derby on privatisation,
www.serco.com/rts . I believe Fred Phipps produced his Gauge 1 1/32nd class 22 from works drawings bought from Derby. Failing that there are 24 wheels on 2 Class 52s at Bridgnorth to measure up - sometimes the real thing is better than works drawings!!

Roger
 
richard carr

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Rob

As I recall when you sold the wheels they were not finished wheel sets, thats the problem most people are not in position to finish them off.

The wheels are gorgeous the best anyone has ever produced, but we need finished wheel sets where one wheel unscrews so that they are easy to work with.

If you are doing some more let me know I will buy some.

Richard
 
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