7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

[mickoo]

Ahh, that's more like it, I'll run it through lightbox to give it more definition, bring out the details in shadow and remove the sempia tone; it shows details of injectors and under fame linkages.

London, Midland and Scottish Railway - LMS "Beyer Garratt" type 2-6-0+0-6-2T steam locomotive Nr. 4986 (Beyer Peacock Locomotive Works, Manchester-Gorton 6667 / 1930) by Historical Railway Images, on Flickr

Now fitted with the extra sand boxes on the engine rear beams, still has pony wheel brakes though.

 

[cmax]

Next,

Well funny you should ask, the 47xx will go for paint in a few weeks or so and the A2 will come back from paint at the same time, where upon it will be reassembled, back head and motion fitted and test run in before delivery.

In the ensuing days I've two more projects. First is artwork, etches and build for a Collect Restaurant car though that won't go on this log until the etches are back and the build process begins.

The other project is a BR(M) Beyer Garratt with rotary bunker which I picked up from a new client this very morning Work will start on that in the next few days once the final few pieces are done on the 47xx.

It's an old kit so there will no doubt be opportunities to upgrade here and there.

Well, wasn't expecting either of those, best stock up on my favourite tipple and be prepared to learn something over the next few months.

Looking forward, to seeing the A2 completed, and not forgetting the "over the pond" projects too.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[neaston]

That does appear to be a no brained Nick

I hope that was a mistype and you meant :"no brainer"
Nick

 

[Pencarrow]

I hope that was a mistype and you meant :"no brainer"
Nick

Ooops, sorry Nick. Blinking auto correct.

 

[Lancastrian]

Cheers, I'll get them anyway, I like Garratts, hell you never know, one might pass over my CAD desk at some point

Ooooh, yes please Mick !

Ian

 

[Lancastrian]

JB,

The more I look the more I find, I like this part of a new project, research and learning, besides, it's LMS, what's not to like, except maybe it's a Derby design and not Crewe

Blame Anderson for that one. It was he who went to Beyer-Peacock, behind Fowler's back, and insisted on a Midlandised Garrett, otherwise the LMS would have had a much different, and better product.

Ian

 

[mickoo]

Blame Anderson for that one. It was he who went to Beyer-Peacock, behind Fowler's back, and insisted on a Midlandised Garrett, otherwise the LMS would have had a much different, and better product.

Ian

Yeah, something similar to the SAR GE or GL class has been touted.

South African Railway - SAR "Beyer Garratt" type Class GE 2-8-2+2-8-2 steam locomotive Nr. 2276 (Beyer Peacock Locomotive Works, Manchester-Gorton 6716 / 1930) by Historical Railway Images, on Flickr

south africa by Roger Goodrum, on Flickr

Only four years apart and straddling the LMS Garrat design; the change in size is evident as was the change from plate to bar frames, later Garratts had cast mono frames.

GE 2276 was one of two in the last order built in 1931, the previous two orders originated in 1925/6 and are visually slightly different.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

lready do that , the W1 comes with insulated brake blocks and so will the B1 Its easy to do with green field projects, not so with hacking old ones, you basically need new plain hangers, an etch is the way to go but prohibitive in price for just one model.

Why not produce an after-market upgrade resin brake block, slotted in the rear, as a replacement for the etched ones. Just cut the etched brake block off the hanger and replace.

 

[adrian]

Yeah, something similar to the SAR GE or GL class has been touted.

I need to dig through my old photos (pre digital!) as my Dad had acquired a 7mm live steam New Zealand Garratt. It was built in the 1940/1950s by a father and son team from Manchester "the Parkers". I think I have a couple of photos of us steaming the loco in the back garden. It was a superb loco. The power units were just 2 cylinder rather than 3 cylinder and they had chosen the design as the boiler was coal fired and it gave a good grate area for the coal firing. I seem to remember it was quite temperamental to run but with the right coal it steamed beautifully. I really need to see if I can find any photos of it because I don't know where it has ended up.

 

[Brian McKenzie]

Those three 6-cylinder Garratt locos built for New Zealand in 1928 proved unsuitable for local conditions. Rolling stock drawgear at the time was insufficiently strong for the size of trains the Garratts were expected to haul, and in similar vein crossing loop lengths were too short. The conjugated valve gear gave trouble and locomen who opposed the whole concept, allegedly kept 'finding' fishplates jamming the screw of the mechanical stoker.

It appears the eager young C.M.E. of the day, Gorton trained G S Lynde, together with consulting engineers, fiddled with the design over and above what Beyer Peacock might have preferred to construct. A simpler 4-cylinder design might have led to the Garratt success enjoyed in Africa.

By the mid 1930s, a proposal was underway to convert the three Garratt locos into six 4-6-2. A new trailing truck was provided along with a lower arrangement of inside cylinder. The original frames at only 15/16" thickness were too flexible and caused steam blows around the cylinders. By 1956 engine crews refused to operate trains with them and the locos were written off. Their scrapping lingered on into the mid 1960s.

The book, "The NZR Garratt Story", by E J McClare ISBN 0-908573-05-07 tells all.

 

[mickoo]

Balance weights and motor mount, also added the coupling rod oil pots.

The motor mount is a simple flat plate and two risers, the risers allow the gearbox to float up and down. The clamp simply hooks over one of the gear box stays and is screwed down, simple is as simple does.

The internal 3D sand boxes had holes drilled to match the original kit flat plates, those for the actuating rod turned out to be in the wrong place and did not align with the sand lever rod that runs under the boiler; those two holes will be filled with filler.

Under the motor I'll add another transverse flat plate and affix the motor termination pads, the fixing screw will go through one pad and thus bond that leg to the chassis which is wired/set up for the American style of pick up.

The final task is an insulated draw bar, or metal draw bar and insulated fixing screw, then it'll be off for paint.

 

[simond]

It’s just exquisitely crisp...

lovely
Simon

 

[Phil O]

Fantastic work!!

 

[Dave Holt]

Beautiful workmanship, Mick. The motor looks to be an awful long way back. Did these locos have a particularly shallow cab space?
Dave.

 

[mickoo]

Beautiful workmanship, Mick. The motor looks to be an awful long way back. Did these locos have a particularly shallow cab space?
Dave.

Yup, under 5 feet, very short cab

 

[mickoo]

Why not produce an after-market upgrade resin brake block, slotted in the rear, as a replacement for the etched ones. Just cut the etched brake block off the hanger and replace.

That's a possibility, but overall I've found kits to have laminated hangers with the brake block overlapping the hanger as a detail.

You'd have to cut off the block and then file the surface detail flat, far easier and probably faster to cut new hangers to fit the resin blocks.

 

[mickoo]

Well, wasn't expecting either of those, best stock up on my favourite tipple and be prepared to learn something over the next few months.

Looking forward, to seeing the A2 completed, and not forgetting the "over the pond" projects too.

Cheers,

Gary

A2 collection on Saturday, so hopefully sometime next week for some progress shots during the rebuild.

Other stuff has been eased back until I can clear some of this other work.

 

[Richard Spoors]

A2 collection on Saturday, so hopefully sometime next week for some progress shots during the rebuild.

Other stuff has been eased back until I can clear some of this other work.

Have a safe journey. I ventured out of my village for the first time since March to Kidderminster on Wednesday and the roads weren't too bad.
Cheers

Richard

 

[mickoo]

Have a safe journey. I ventured out of my village for the first time since March to Kidderminster on Wednesday and the roads weren't too bad.
Cheers

Richard

I did a run to Sleaford last Saturday to pick up the LMS Garratt, nice run up early morning but coming back on the A1 you still get the usual berks hogging the outside lane; even with a 60% reduction in traffic they don't seem to reduce correspondingly

 

[simond]

Impressive torch, Ian...