Obtaining suitable wheelsets that conformed to P87 standards and also allowed reliable operation of Kadee couplers on the full range of rolling stock that I wanted to run, was the main cause of frustration and setback over the months leading up to this progress report. Now, I'm pleased to say the situation appears to be resolved.

Alan Gibson's wheels are nicely formed, there is a good range and run very well but have steel tyres and axles. As any user of Kadees knows, steel wheelsets are drawn to magnetism and make serious operation without modifications a bit of a lottery. Speaking to Alan at the York exhibition in 1998 made it clear he was not contemplating using any other material because of the costs involved and the small sales envisaged. However, further experiments showed that weighting cars to around 250g with lead produced an inertia effect that allowed the Kadees time to deflect and open in a suitable magnetic field. Thus, as far as my own layout is concerned, it would be possible , by using Alan's wheels, to have a good number of freight cars in operation but not ones that travelled open, such as hoppers, gons, flats and the like (Picture 5).

P2K tank car fitted with Alan Gibson P:87 wheelsets

It looked like any P87 layout I was going to build was going to have to be confined to running boxcars and other similar vehicles into which the necessary lead could be crammed. Another option would perhaps have been to make semi-permanent loads carved from lead. This situation was soon to change, however.

Conversations via e-mail with NWSL had resulted in an order for non-magnetic freight car 33" wheelsets in nickel silver. These were not quite to P87 standards and would not negotiate the turnouts and I flinched at the thought of having to reprofile dozens of these by hand on the lathe. But further correspondence produced the interesting news that they were planning a run of true P87 profile wheelsets. At the beginning of January 1999 samples of these with two alternative axle lengths duly arrived. The trial examples were turned in brass but when production gets under way, I am informed, will be nickel silver. They ran equally as well as the AG wheelsets. The future availability of these non-ferrous wheelsets from NWSL means that the modeller will have the capability of reliably operating all types of freight cars with Kadees on a P87 layout.

COMPARISON

As I've only got a +2 lens attachment I can't manage very close up shots, so the comparison of Alan Gibson and NWSL wheelsets in the next shot (Picture 7) is the best I can do. Slight differences can be discerned with a micrometer but the bottom line is that they both run smoothly through the P87 turnouts I have built. Both types look great and I intend to use examples of each on my freight stock as the layout progresses. At this time I am envisaging the use of smaller couplings other than the standard Kadee #5. I know they're a little overscale but it's one step at a time as far as I am concerned and experiments with smaller, closer to scale couplers are still some way off.

Comparison View ........ NWSL top and AG below

DISCLAIMER

Having no other relationship with Alan Gibson and NWSL except as a satisfied customer, I will certainly be looking forward to using their products in the future. Their service and interest has been excellent.

Alan Gibson: The Bungalow, Church Road, Lingwood, Norwich, Norfolk NR13 4TR Tel: 01603 715862

and

North West Short Line: Box 423, Seattle, WA 98111-0423, U.S.A.

Tel: 206/932-1087 Fax: 206/935-7106 E-mail: info@nwsl.com Web Site: http://www.nwsl.com