Here's one I've been working on for a while! It's an 00 scale model of the LNER U1 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt made by DJH! Aside from a few cast white metal pieces (such as the boiler and water tank sides), the kit is made almost entirely from etched brass. It's complicated to build, but I think it turned out excellent! Garratts were never used in the USA, so Santa Fe definitely never had one, but I painted it that way as a fun "what if". This one's been waiting on the shelf in an almost finished state for months now, and I just happen to get a few good days to paint, so it seemed like a good time to get it done.
This kit was never made to run on a 22" radius, and normally, it would only have the rear drive wheels powered by a small upright motor. I had to get creative and make some compromises for it to run on my layout. On top of that though, I powered it with a large Canon CN22 motor with dual flywheels (mounted inside the boiler), have a Grandt Line Delrin chain drive to transfer power into the lower area of the firebox, and then used NWSL universals to power both sets of drive wheels using NWSL 28:1 0.3mod gearboxes. It's still a bit finicky, but I'll get that all worked out with time. And yes, it's kind of noisy because of that chain. Since the motor and chain are very difficult to access, I wanted to make sure it was as unlikely to break or wear out as possible, which might have happened using a quieter belt drive.
And here's a video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWHbthhwlU
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Very nicely-done, Darth!
I covetted the Hudson which DJH offered at one time, but didn't have the funds to actually buy one.
Here's another OO scale Garratt, this one a 2-6-0+0-6-2 from Rosebud Kitmaster....
Offered as a static display model, this one is unpowered, but roll-able. There are some more photos (and some further info) HERE
Wayne
Very nice! I have a Rosebud Kitmaster Stirling Single which is coming along nicely. I took off the molded handrails and replaced them with wire and stanchions as you've done, but I've also powered it using Markits drive wheels, a small coreless motor and some nice CD drive gears from the ejection tray. The rest of the wheels are by Scalelink. Those scale 8' drive wheels move it along in a hurry even with the slower gearing!
Very interesting Darth! Beautiful workmanship!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Impressive model and workmanship that compliments such fine material. You don't happen to have a pic of the box full of parts, do you Darth? That might provide some interesting perspective!
While no B-Gs ever graced the rails in the US, we certainly had suitable terrain to run them on.
Westside imported a small run of HOn3 "American-Garratts" based on K-27 chassis and boilers. Definitely an unexpected treat when one of those pops out of a tunnel.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Looks European with those buffers. Whats the story be hind them?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Looks great Darth. You did an excellent job assembling a very challenging kit.
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Congratulations on the achievement.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
riogrande5761 Looks European with those buffers. Whats the story be hind them?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_U1
Gary
Looks can be deceiving, but I've always wondered about the design of those locos. It APPEARS that the weight on the drivers is goign to fluctuate widely as the fual and water is consumed, whereas on the typical articulated locos familair to the US, the weight is fairly consistent unless you (foolishly) run the boiler dry, at which point the loss of tractive effort is the least of your worries. This loss of adhesion was an issue with the Erie Triplex, with the third engine under the tender, where the wight over that last engine would continually be reduced as fuel adn water were consumed. That and the boilers didn't have enough capacity to feed three engines. Granted, a B0G design also suspends the boiler and firebox fairly equally between both engines, so there is some consistency, but with the fuel bunker and water tank out on the extreme ends that's got to cause a change in the weight on the drivers.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
mlehman, I didn't get a picture of this one, but the packaging is basically the same as the 0-4-4T I built last year. It just had a lot more etched brass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaDbVM7ZnaY
rrinker, I suspect these would have a similar problem to other tenderless tank engines, but a large boiler like that on top of 16 drive wheels will have a lot of traction regardless. They would just have to make sure the load behind it could still be pulled with low fuel.
Ah gee... I thought I was out on the lunitic-fringe with my Camelback roster! You definately got me beat!!
Nice work!!
Jim
Very cool, Darth! No surprise you could pull this off.
Is this Grandt Line chain still available? Could you show pix of how you implemented it? Dan
Neat looking model!!! I don't see any headlights on it, does it have Sound/DCC?
Can we see a picture of it pulling some cars on your layout?
Almost forgot, I actually did get a few progress photos including one of the chain drive! Grandt Line shut down not long ago and was purchased by San Juan Model Co. I'm not sure if they have the chain and sprockets available or not.
ATSFGuy, it doesn't have sound, DCC or headlights. British steam wasn't required to have headlights, and I decided to keep with the original detail instead of adding American parts. There's a video link in at the end of the first post.
rrinkerLooks can be deceiving, but I've always wondered about the design of those locos.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Thanks for the in progress shots. The one of the gears helps a lot, and the others really shows then craftsmanship of the kit itself, and your work. Pretty cool! Dan
Beautiful model and great work!