Sunday, November 02, 2008

The Garratt runs !


Garratt on turntable
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

With all the waggly bits soldered up it was short step to trying the model out. A spacer had to be made to lift the back end - three axle spacing washers on the rear pivot - and some pickups were fitted. Then the loco ran up and down my test track. The valve gear whirled away and nothing fell off and I was happy.

There is a world of difference between running on a straight track and operating on a proper layout. For that I needed to head down the the railway club and ask nicely if they guys building "Kimble" if they would let me give it a run. Fortunately all the boards were in place and none of the track was being fettled so this was OK.

So while we drank tea the Garratt traversed the layout. It looked fantastic and unlike some of the models I've built it didn't embarrass me the moment I got into the public gaze.

You can watch the run on this video.


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