Arnold SW1

[jjb62556]

I have a Arnold SW1 that I would like to replace the traction wheels with regular wheel for better pick up. Has anybody done this before, and does the NWSL set for the S2 work for this...Thanks for any help...Jim

[peteski]

All you ever wanted to know about this loco is in https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=37191.0
I have replaced the TT driver set, but I used another Arnold S1 wheelset w/o TT.  Unfortunately no spare wheelsets are available from the manufacturer anymore.

The NWSL S2 wheelset will not fit. The gear is different, and I also believe the axle diameter is different.  The arnold which  produced SW1 is not a true "old German company" Arnold.  It is a Hornby/Arnold (Arnold just in a name).

[mmagliaro]

In that thread Peteski pointed you to, I mention that I did change out the wheels, but I did it the hard way.  I took some
diesel wheels off some axles I had lying around (probably Kato wheelsets), and turned them down just a hair to match the Arnold
diameter, and bored them out to fix the Arnold axles, and then pressed off the TT wheels on the Arnold axles and pushed the new
ones one.  It was a lot of work, and is best done with a lathe.  You could probably try it with just a pin vise, boring out
a Kato wheel by hand and hoping the drill follows the existing hole well enough so nothing wobbles.  I used to do that
in my pre-lathe days.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

[bbussey]

I did the same as Pete, ordered extra wheelsets from Hornby at the time.

[CRL]

I replaced the non-traction tire wheelsets on my 2 SW-1’s using the NWSL wheelsets. Mine were early SW-1’s & not the TT version.

[peteski]

I replaced the non-traction tire wheelsets on my 2 SW-1’s using the NWSL wheelsets. Mine were early SW-1’s & not the TT version.

What do you mean by "early"?  So far there was ever only one commercially made model of the SW1, and it was few years ago by Hornby/Arnold. It is the one described in the thread I linked to early.  The only other switcher made years ago by Arnold-rapido (in Germany) was the S2.  As I mentioned in the earlier post, the gearing and axle diameter is totally different and incompatible (so the NWSL wheelsets are also incompatible).

[CRL]

What do you mean by "early"?  So far there was ever only one commercially made model of the SW1, and it was few years ago by Hornby/Arnold. It is the one described in the thread I linked to early.  The only other switcher made years ago by Arnold-rapido (in Germany) was the S2.  As I mentioned in the earlier post, the gearing and axle diameter is totally different and incompatible (so the NWSL wheelsets are also incompatible).

You’re absolutely correct…. Mine are the old Arnold S-2’s, not the SW-1’s. Brain cramp combined with pre-coffee stupor.