S7 wheels from Peartree Engineering

[S7BcSR]

Roger - I was certainly aware that Serco were supposed to be guardians of drawings for all diesels but my indirect enquiries of them said that they don't have them. I was also informed that Serco charge a huge fee for copy drawing, far more than I would wish to pay for producing a small run of wheels. As I said my enquiries were indirect but were through someone fairly senior in the rail industry. Also enquiries of owners of Class 52 indicated that they didn't have drawings either or were even aware of them. Yes I have been told I can go and measure the real thing but I would really like to do it by laser scanning and I have to follow this up if I decide to produce the wheel.

Richard - As I noted earlier there were one or two lessons learned from that run and your point was certainly the most relevant. I would not countenance doing a wheelset the same way again. I may think about it later in the year.

Rob

 

[Osgood]

The extra cost of solid or 3 hole wheels would be in having to re-chuck each wheel to profile the reverse side rather than simply facing the front and parting off from bar stock. In the overall scheme of things I think they would still be good value.

Does anyone have a drawing of a 3ft 1" 3 hole wagon wheel they could make available either to me or direct to Malcolm so we can get a price organised? I'm sure there would be a good market for them.

 

[D816Foxhound]

Rob, you are right about the cost of copies of works drawings provided by Serco, they are not cheap. Another possible source is the NRM at York.
I know that they do have works drawings for Class 52s, but I don't know if they having anything specifically for wheel sets.

Roger

 

[S7BcSR]

Roger - As I understood it from my contact Serco are supposed to have the drawings of anything that runs on the Network but, apparently, that isn't always true. So Class 52, Class 40 etc. should be at Serco. Any locos that were withdrawn before Serco were charged with keeping the drawings were supposed to go to the NRM but I am not aware of whether this is true or not. For example did the North British Warship drawings go to NRM or are they in Glasgow? Rhetorical question.

I am trying to get up to the NRM to see if I can find the drawings but I am finding it difficult at the moment to get up there, will do it later this summer however.

Rob

 

[Paul Kehoe]

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

Hi Dave, thanks for the information regarding my first posting....I will try to do better! Paul Kehoe