[There is quite a lot of back-story to this post - feel free to skip to the bit about wheels if you want just the nitty gritty!]

 

Like many modellers, I suspect, I spend time pondering what my priorities are, what I want from my hobby, and how to get the most satisfaction within the constraints of time, money, space, skills, and so on. This post then, is not about something I have already made, presented as a piece of 'finished' work. Rather, it's about why I am here and where I am going, in both philosophical and practical terms. It's also about wagon wheels.

 

I became a railway modeller as a boy, as a natural progression from a train set (my joint best toy alongside Lego). My Dad and I developed the hobby together, first with an OO GWR layout in the loft, never finished due to a house move. Later as a teenager I got into 1970s BR - recent history at the time - in EM and then P4. Meanwhile Dad progressed to 7mm scale, still GWR, never building a layout but making stock and scenic items for a couple of club layouts. For me, life, work and family intervened, and modelling stopped for a long time, though there was some intermittent work on a garden line in 16mm scale.

 

When I decided to get back into the hobby around 18 months ago, I knew I wanted to work in 7mm scale, having enjoyed seeing my Dad's models, and sharing his love of wagons. I also knew I wanted to model the late Victorian or Edwardian period, for essentially aesthetic reasons. Although Dad had sold off most of his stock when he moved into a flat towards the end of his life, I still have a couple of items that he kept, including a Dean Goods -

 

 

 - and a PO coal wagon - more of which in an upcoming post.

 

The Dean Goods became a guiding factor in my plans. The livery is 1906, with 'Great (garter) Western' on the tender, which, together with the putative red-to-grey wagon livery change of 1904, set my modelling date at 1908. The Dean Goods would thus be feasible in the 1906 livery, and a mix of red and grey wagons would be appropriate. It steered clear of the all-brown and lake coach liveries, which I don't care for, and was still early enough to plausibly allow some 1, 2 and 3 plank wagons in small numbers. And of course, I would be modelling to O gauge finescale standards, because that is what the Dean Goods is.

 

A year or so went by, with me happily building wagons and learning more about my chosen period with all its nuances and intricacies. I started gradually to develop a backstory - Netherport - to accommodate what I want in a layout. No rush - our current house, at least as currently configured, has no room for a layout, but that is fine - I like making wagons.

 

Then two things happened to disturb my equilibrium. Firstly, I put up a display cupboard for the wagons to go in, so they could be on show but protected from the dust. Naturally, I got the Dean Goods out of its box and added it to the display. A while later, in an idle moment, I found a bit of O gauge track, wired it up to an ancient H&M Duet controller, and put the loco on it. Given it hadn't run for 10+ years, it was OK. A clean of the wheels and track, and it was passable, if not great. The gears were noisy and it sometimes needed a nudge to start, suggesting pickup issues.

 

I took a look underneath. Construction was fairly basic, typical of a kit-built loco of its era. The gears and bearings looked worn, and the pickups appeared rather rudimentary. There was quite a lot of 'slop' in all the moving parts - a testament to its history of putting in the miles on a club layout. None of these things are impossible to fix, but... 

 

Decades ago, I had taken the Hornby 'Britania' that was the pride of my childhood trainset, and attempted to convert it to EM, using Sharman wheels. I was way too inexperienced and unskilled for such a project, and I abandoned the attempt, but not before the loco was in such a state it could never return to its original condition. I had lost something of significant sentimental value, and gained nothing other than a painful life lesson. I wasn't going to make the same mistake with the Dean Goods - it has earned its retirement.

 

The second thing that happened was that, in the comments section of a blog post, I mentioned I had once modelled in P4. Mike @airnimal said he was a little surprised that someone who once modelled in P4 would not adopt S7 standards when moving to 7mm scale. I didn't mention the story of the Dean Goods, and made some excuse, but it got me thinking.

 

And not just thinking - fretting. If the Dean Goods is going to be a shelf queen, then I am no longer tied to period, railway company or track and wheel standards. Except, of course, I have the 13 wagons I have built over the last year and a half, with FS wheels, and none of them designed to have the wheels removed or replaced. Unlike the pinpoint axles used in 4mm scale, the 7mm scale axles have long journals and deep bearings, making it pretty much impossible to spring the wheel sets out without causing major damage.

 

There followed a period of reflection, and looking at forums, websites, photos of models, my own models... I have several times decided that, on balance, I am happy with finescale standards. I told myself that narrowing the gauge to 31.5mm, at least through pointwork, allows good-looking track, and it isn't as if the gauge difference is huge, unlike the change from OO to P4. My fretting became focused on the appearance of wheels...

 

With a couple of wagons on the bench in mid-construction at the stage where wheels must be fitted, I have decided I need to make a decision, once and for all. I have therefore been paying a lot of attention to wheels. Mainly wagon wheels. A complicating factor is that - even leaving aside the formation of the flange and tyre, not all wheels are made equal. Slaters are the primary source of S7 wheels, but looking at the finescale ones, the Peco wheels are nicer in terms of delicacy of the spokes and a slightly more subtle flange. Would Slaters S7 wheels be an unequivocal improvement over Peco FS, and what about other makes?

 

There was only one choice - a wagon wheel beauty contest. The credit card was flexed and wheels ordered or dug out of stock:

 

1. Slaters FS
2. Peco FS
3. 51L / Wizard FS
4. Slaters S7

 

(all plain spoke 3'1.5" wagon wheels)

 

And here they are, lined up for the pageant, in the order listed:

 

 

 

 

And a reminder of what we are aiming for:

 

 

So what do we notice?

 

Slaters FS

• heavy looking tyre
• the spoke moulding looks quite delicate from the front, but it is deep, so when looked at obliquely the effect is heavy and way over-scale.
• there is a wide range of types available
• wheels feature free rust, available to 'special' customers only

 
Peco FS

• even heavier tyre
• slightly more subtle flange profile than Slaters FS
• much better spokes - more rounded and delicate
• only available as plain spoke and disk, in 3'1.5" size

 

51L / Wizard FS

• nice, delicate tyre (though the improved appearance is partly down to the chemical blackening and the pronounced chamfer on the front edge of the tyre)
• delicate spokes when seen from the front, but they are deep, like the Slaters
• only available as plain spoke, open spoke, and 3-hole, in 3'1.5" size

 
Slaters S7

• subtle flange profile, of course, being S7
• thinner tyre than Slaters FS, with a narrower tread as per S7 standards
• more delicate spokes than Slaters FS, though still lacking the rounded profile of Peco, and still quite deep.
• wide range of types available

 
So the category winners are (judged very subjectively by me!):

 

Best tyre profile - Slaters FS (with Wizard getting an honourable mention)

 

Best spoke profile - Peco FS

 

Best available range - Slaters (tie between FS and S7)

 

For me, not having seen the Slaters S7 wheels 'in the metal' before, they are better than I was expecting - the difference between them and the Slaters FS wheels is more than just the flange profile. The tyre is thinner, and the centre moulding is more subtle. The Peco spokes are better, but for overall effect it has to be the Slaters S7 - and of course Slaters have the range to bring that benefit to all stock, not just conventional wagons with plain-spoked 3ft wheels.

 

So here is the announcement (did someone at the back say 'about time'?):

 

I'm 90% sure I am converting to S7.

 

Actually, I am 100% sure, because I know if I don't I will regret it, and the decision needs to be made now. So that's it, decision made.

 

Although, I have pretty much no idea how I will convert the existing stock. I will go into more detail on that another time, but I know I will be needing all the experience, knowledge and moral support folks can bring to bear on the matter.

 

For now though, that's it - as always, all comments, indications that I am mad, indications that I was mad not to do it in the first place, and general ribaldry are welcome.

 

Nick.