Tanat Valley 3 by Peter Drost
Heljan CCT Conversion to S7 by Doug Thompson
Having purchased a couple of Heljan CCT’s recently, thoughts turned to how best to convert them to ScaleSeven. Hoping fervently that this would simply be a case of dropping some wheelsets in, it turned out to be just that simple.
I purchased a couple of axles of ScaleSeven 3ft 7in coach wheels from Peartree and noted when placed side by side the Heljan axle is, despite the narrower back to back, longer than the Peartree axle and assumed that this shouldn’t be a problem.
About the longest part of this regauging exercise was gathering the confidence to bend the w-irons sufficiently to remove the supplied wheelsets without breaking the w-irons.
As mentioned, the Peartree axles are shorter so the degree of bend required to get the new wheel sets in was considerably less.
Even though the Peartree axle journal is narrower than the Heljan, I’ve left the Heljan bearings in place with no detriment to axle running.
There is a degree of lateral play in the ScaleSeven wheelsets due to the shorter axle but the wheels centre well when running and remain clear of the brake hangers meaning no adjustment has been necessary.
I only run these vehicles on a very short layout, and whilst they pass through my pointwork well, it’s possible that with more extensive running on a larger layout they may require the brake hangers to be adjusted but I think it unlikely.
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