Waggly bits question

Richard asks: Glancing through your pages I spotted a photo of a Backwoods Vivian Garratt (4MM) you built for your layout, did you have any problems with the build and clearance around the valve gear and wheels, I’ve found the instructions in some area’s a little vague, any input on this would be helpful

It was a long while ago I built my Garratt but I don't recall any particular problems with clearance. The main thing I did was to rivet the parts together which reduces the sideways slop considerably. The first corner took forever but with practice the last one was done in about 20 minutes !

The other trick, is where the valve gear links to the cross-head, you can't (or I couldn't anyway) use a rivet. A brass pin has to be soldered in. Place a bit of tin foil from the kitchen between the crosshead and connecting link and push the pin through. This should allow you to solder without the solder gumming everything up solid. It works most of the time for me but do practise using some scrap metal first.

Hope this helps.