Can anyone suggest alternate suppliers for delrin gears and the many other items of drive-train and other hardware that I used to get from North West Shortline to overhaul/refurbish HO brass steam and diesel locomotives as well as other brass cars from importers that are no longer operating such as Overland, Oriental, Westside Models, PFM and the many others up to the 1990's ?
only thing i can suggest would be to type 'delrin gears model train' into your search engine of choice, and see what comes up ???
I typed "precision Delrin gears" into Google and got a long list of suppliers, including ones offering custom-made gears.
Wayne
See Thread: Northwest Short Line Closing, for 8/2/2019 update per David at N.W.S.L.
I sure wish Dave at NWSL would have posted a photo of how he produce his gears. They certainly were not mass produced by plastic forming machines like most train companies. No doubt a company secret.
His gears never required running in. Look at his site on running gears in.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I believe NWSL gears were properly "hobbed" and not cast as most mass production gears are made. Unfortunatlly till someone else picks up the torch, we are left to ebay and swap meets for those items. Places like Boston Gear and such can be used for larger gauge models at times if you know how to "spec out" a gear properly. Thankfully I went thru my two remaining OMI models that I kept when I got out of HO scale and fixed any of their issues. Very sad seeing NWSL go away with nobody picking up the line and keeping it going. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
That equipment goes back a long time. I use to buy stuff when the company was in Seatttle, Washington back in the 1970’s. I remember calling and ordering some gears when they had an ice storm. Had a good conversation with that owner. He said the city was pretty much shut down. At the time I had to buy the gear planning documents which are excellent. Free online now.
Some years later Dave bought and moved NWSL.
NWSL just announced that the company has been sold to one of their employees and will continue. This appears at NWSL’s Facebook page:
Dave here, and I have good news. NWSL released the following today:
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NorthWest Short Line Press Release
For Immediate Release
NorthWest Short Line is pleased to announce that the entire line has been acquired by an NWSL employee, effective September 3rd, 2019. All existing back orders will be filled, and NWSL will be open to new orders as soon as the new websites are rolled out; the primary website nwsl.com will carry forward as the primary contact point. The line is expected to carry forward largely unchanged although the company will no longer offer phone support. NWSL will be headquartered in Kila, Montana, located near Kalispell, and the new address is PO Box 219, Kila, MT 59920. Email contact is through the website.
I just actually cheered out loud reading this!
.
HOORAY!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Great news indeed!
Hi wvg_ca, Thank you so much for your suggestion I found a number of very good sites. But fortunately, I notice that NWSL has now been purchased and will continue to trade with new owners. Regards.
Hi doctorwayne, Thank you so much for your suggestion I found a number of very good sites. But fortunately, I notice that NWSL has now been purchased and will continue to trade with new owners. Regards.
Hi Railroadfan1, Thank you so much for your reply. Fortunately, I notice that NWSL has now been purchased and will continue to trade with new owners. Regards.
Hi richg1988, Thank you so much for your reply. Fortunately, I notice that NWSL has now been purchased and will continue to trade with new owners. Regards.
Hi Andre, Thank you so much for your reply. This is great news. Regards.