Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why have you stopped putting the crankpin holes in some of the wheels?

A. We haven't! The older tools, which were the first ones developed for some reason were made with a pip. I would have thought this was harder to machine instead of a hole with a peg in it. Anyway it harks back to the days when modellers were perhaps closer to model engineers, the one possible advantage was that the hole could be but in a different place, hence altering the throw.
Just to re-iterate, we are not removing crankpin holes from wheels, in fact if anything we will be adding them as we convert to self-quartering. It is a shame the gossips out there jump to the assumption that we'd take such a backward step!

Q. Why don't you have an online shop and why don't you take paypal?

A. We are 80% manufacturer and 20% retailer. You can order by phone, mail, email and fax, isn't that enough? We don't want to add ways of selling that require additional management, resources and oversight. If someone must buy online then should use one of the online retailers that stock our range such as Mainly Trains.

Q. I have bought a 2nd hand kit and it has the wrong wheels for my gauge, will you exchange them for P4/EM/OO?

A. It depends. The chances are that Alan manufactured the kit and hence had the profit, therefore any time we spend sorting things out is straight loss rather than a reduction in profit (we are a business after all). Also, Alan seems to have gone through several slightly different manufacturing regimes including twisting the plastic centres from the sprue, which when inserted in the tyre leaves an unsightly lump on the back. We don't do this and any wheels like this would have to be reworked before being put in to stock. In truth the only parts that could be reused would be the tyre and axles. The bag, lables, card and plastic centres would all need to be replaced, when the labour is added it becomes as expensive as producing a new set of wheels. Therefore there is little difference between doing exchanges and dropping wheels down the grid!
We review each request case by case.

Q. What is the criteria for adding items to the website?

A. If we're getting a lot of similar questions and the information isn't available elsewhere.

Q. Whats the square root of -1?

A. j