Garden Railway Forum

The Garratt was not happy with my 4ft in places radius curves. As Accucraft recommend min 1.2 metre radius it was right on the limit . Still a magnificent beasty.

Wow, that is a beautiful beast. Does it take two people to carry something like that?

I looked up the dimensions and that's about three times the length of my biggest loco, which looks massive enough on my little railway. (My tightest curve is 18", so no chance!)

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 5:08 pm Wow, that is a beautiful beast. Does it take two people to carry something like that? ...

Not necessarily - someone in our local area group has a NGG16 and they manage. It helps having a special carrying cradle though.

It is over 31" long and was in a wooden loco case . Best for two persons to handle it .I used my sack truck . The model has a large fuel tank , and its recommended to fill the rear bunker with warm water to heat up the gas tank .

Petersfield wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 7:09 pm

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 5:08 pm Wow, that is a beautiful beast. Does it take two people to carry something like that? ...

Not necessarily - someone in our local area group has a NGG16 and they manage. It helps having a special carrying cradle though.

Your mate must eat Three Shredded Wheat for Breakfast.

What a beast!

https://scontent.fbhx4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=66DB6CC4


The link leads to a picture on Facebook where the front engine is the Beyer Garratt belonging to William Bickers-Jones which was on display at LLanfair Caerinion station on Friday and Saturday of the recent WLLR Gala.

Phil

gilfachphil wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:25 am https://scontent.fbhx4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=66DB6CC4


The link leads to a picture on Facebook where the front engine is the Beyer Garratt belonging to William Bickers-Jones which was on display at LLanfair Caerinion station on Friday and Saturday of the recent WLLR Gala.

Phil

So are they bigger than the NG16 ?

Chris

Very similar I would think. Big!

Preseli Chris wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 1:38 pm

gilfachphil wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:25 am https://scontent.fbhx4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=66DB6CC4


The link leads to a picture on Facebook where the front engine is the Beyer Garratt belonging to William Bickers-Jones which was on display at LLanfair Caerinion station on Friday and Saturday of the recent WLLR Gala.

Phil

So are they bigger than the NG16 ?

Chris

They're a fair bit bigger yes.

Back to the P.M.R 's smaller motive power stock ,I have sourced a cast brass hand wheel ,a driver figure and painted up the radiator on the simplex type loco .I have been pleasantly surprised by its pulling power . The model was able to pull 7 Brandbright wagons with ease ,so a useful addition to the fleet.I still need to add some more control levers and decide where to place the driver , I don't think he looks too out of place sat on top of the engine cover. Modellers licence and all that .

Although the skies are grey and there is no breeze to blow the clouds away these past couple of days have been perfect to run a kettle and capture some
atmospheric steam images.

Great pictures Chris. I guess as it gets colder we’ll have better shows of steam,

Phil

Very jealous of the steam plumes.
Grant.

gilfachphil wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2024 4:51 pm Great pictures Chris. I guess as it gets colder we’ll have better shows of steam,

Phil

Your'e correct there Phil. The plums are fantastic when it's freezing, although for me it's only very short spells running my steamer, gets to these old bones....

Been a while since I last posted a thread. Late last winter a friend brought his Accucraft BMS diesel loco to run on my line but on negotiating the curve the loco derailed ,we both scratched our heads and came to the conclusion that the issue was with the loco as it was the later version with flanged centre wheels . My locos chassis weren't so close coupled and ran the curve without problems .
It wasn't apparent to me that my line was at fault until this warm spell when my garden railway mojo came back .I noticed the joins in the curves had apexed due to me screwing the track down in the middle of the sleeper allowing the track to pivot. A lesson was learnt so armed with some new stainless steel screws I corrected the problem and invited my friend back to run his loco all is well.
The offending curve on the line is not in the shade so it expands and contracts alot more hence the movement. Still not bad as it was the first bit of maintenance on the line in three years of what mother nature could throw at it .

I think most of us have put the screws in the middle when we first started Chris, I bought most of mine 2nd hand when I started. I also thought that’s the way it should be done. Like you though, all my track wherever they need to be screwed directly down are now put at the side.

A couple of locos visited the PMR today, A Vale of Rheidol 2-6-2 ,and a K1 . The K1 sported an axle driven water pump to feed the boiler .

Some images of the K1.

They look great Chris,

Phil

gilfachphil wrote: ↑Fri May 23, 2025 5:24 pm They look great Chris,

Phil

Hi Phil
The Garratt has a hand pump to part fill the boiler, then the front water tank feeds the boiler via an axle pump . The VoR Tank loco has 4 servos to operate the drain cocks, whistle , reverser, and regulator. So It took awhile for me to control it.

I like your latest Steam addition to your fleet ,perhaps a K1 to add to your roster?

Chris