Has anyone ordered wheels from this company lately?
If so, how was the transaction?
Not wanting to stir the pot, I heard another rumor recently. Just a rumor.
jb
Yes, three weeks ago.
Talked to him on the phone, too.
the guys on the 7/8 board laud praise and adoration on SVE
John:
I’m not certain what kind of “rumor” you heard, but I’ve been dealing with Gary Watkins / Sierra Valley Enterprises since ~2002 or 2003. I recently ordered and received several sets of ‘short axle’ 32mm gauge, ‘A size’ (smallest diameter he catalogs) wheelsets from SVE.
The transaction went like this:
Emailed technical and price / delivery inquiry Monday, June 02, 2008 9:02 AM
Received detailed reply and quote Monday, June 02, 9:15 AM (Yep, 13 minutes later!)
Placed my order by phone Wednesday June 11, Afternoon
Mailed check Thursday, June 12, Noon
Received email confirming shipment by USPS Thursday June 12, 9:05 PM
Received the shipment (100% accurate and complete) Monday, June 16, 2008
(I think the package actually arrived at our local P.O. on Saturday, June 14, but there’s no window service on Saturdays, so it was impossible to pick it up until Monday.)
These wheelsets are now installed on my new Binnie Engineering Skips and really make these very light weight cars operate perfectly on my PECO SM32 track. The skips are at work hauling aggregate at the construction site of Boonville Light & Power Company’s Hydroelectric Generating Units #1 & 2.
Another more recent (still incomplete) transaction:
Emailed technical and price / delivery inquiry Friday, July 11, 2008 12:48 AM
Received detailed reply and quote Friday, July 11, 6:57 AM (That’s 6 hours, 9 minutes, but my inquiry was made in the middle of the night.)
This order has not been placed due to my inaction on the project.
Note the timing of both contact threads, along with the timing of the payment mailed and the wheels received. Service just doesn’t get any better than that! About the same as dealing with TOC. 
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Rumor was started during a conversation about Hartford Products. Gary may or may not have relied on them for parts for his rolling stock. Causing the “snowball” effect that we talked about earlier: Small businesses trying to find another source.
I’m glad Gary is still supplying wheel sets.
I will try a few on my rolling stock.
End of rumor…
j
John:
I was being overly precise above because of the great service Gary has provided. Hope I wasn’t offensive.
I never considered the rolling stock components, but that would make sense. Sourcing problems have been announced by some of the kit producers (Bronson-Tate for example), but didn’t Mike & Jeanie (Hartford’s owners) kind of drop off the face of the earth several months ago? I guess the loss of a parts producer like Hartford takes a while to show an effect in this small industry. I’m really astounded by the total lack of any communication from the Hartford owners.
Some guys, like Phil Dipple, are really smart at tooling and producing reasonable quantities of cast, molded or fabricated products. Phil is trying to move to Colorado along with operating his booming kit business, so he is pretty occupied, and I just saw a thread saying Ozark is working overtime trying to keep up. That doesn’t sound like there’s much extra capacity around to take up the slack.
The real short range problem would seem to be the loss of the designs and especially the masters. Wonder where that stuff is and where it might wind up?
No matter what the problem or resolution, I really hope for the best for all the principles in the enterprise.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Jerry Bowers said:
John:I was being overly precise above because of the great service Gary has provided. Hope I wasn’t offensive.
Happy RRing,Jerry
Jerry,
Not at all.
I’m glad you set the record straight.
Wheel sets were ordered last Thursday.
j
Jerry and John,
I spoke to Doug Moore (he does the custom laser work listed on the Hartford site) on the phone on Thursday, and he is as dumbfounded as the rest of us. He did tell me he is considering selling off his equipment since the economy has cut his orders considerably. I have tried for the last couple of days to contact them by telephone with no response. I will be trying email next.
I am just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus, and Hartford looked like a good place to start. I will be falling back to Ozark for the time being.
Bob
John,
I am a customer of Sierra Valley Enterprises, and Gary Watkins. I buy pilot truck wheels for my 2-8-0 chassis which has gone on for more than ten years. I have also received permission and the tool to produce both SVE finescale and semi-finescale wheel profiles. For this permission I protect the design and limit the design access. Realize, I believe these wheel profiles are as good as it gets in our hobby and have years to prove the point (also TOC to keep me honest).
During a short run of 7/8N2 gas mechanical loco chassis, Gary produce the properly scaled wheel (the only I know of in the hobby). Made the chassis and the resulting models extremely convincing.
Gary’s application of common sense convinced me many years ago, that I was dealing with the right “wheel man”.
Barry - BBT