Heljan Beyer garratt

[robmcg]

It had to happen, colour photo in 1950 actually 'stops' a London-bound coal train, which I read somewhere used to average 18mph.

 

Edited July 17, 2014 by robmcg

[toboldlygo]

p.s. note; The Book Depository has the Irwell Book of the LM Garratts for £15 or so UK only at the moment, other offers are around via Amazon. Ian Sixsmith is an excellent author.

 

warning   buying and reading this book may induce Garratt purchasing fatigue

 

 

You can also purchase direct from Irwell Press, if you want brand new. Ian definitely is an excellent author (having just acquired the Book of the Grange 4-6-0's & the reprint of the Castle 4-6-0's ) and puts his hands up if he makes a mistake in his books.

[Brian Hawkins]

I have just ordered the Irwell Press book of the LM Garratts, looking forward to receiving it, it's ok, I've  only ordered one.........not twelve !

[robmcg]

It's a lovely book, with several photos, or at least two, or sometimes (rarely) maybe just one, of every member of the class, and Ian gives a very thorough and enjoyable account of the engines.

 

The photos show the front tank filler cap was commonly 'off' and sitting nearby on the tank-top, just like the Hattons photos. A prototype for everything!

 

Just for a change I will have unedited pics of two more Garratts soon, when the courier finally delivers them, one has been at the airport now for 5 days according to 'track and trace'. They are unsure why, they have even suggested it doesn't exist because it was scanned by Royal Mail and then 'lost'.  Another arrived in Auckland two days ago and was then sent to Christchurch, the wrong 'island' for my Wellington address, again, they apologise and 'don't know why'.

 

The heavily weathered versions are presumably very close to arrival in Liverpool.

 

I suppose I could photoshop one of my existing versions from a (gasp, choke, horror) different angle.  Too frosty and cold right now to enjoy things outside.  I'm told people are falling over in England right now with 32C... 

[robmcg]

Frosty morning, based on a pic in the Irwell Book of the LM Garratt....  my LMS 7983 is out for un-edited pics tomorrow  hopefully.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2014 by robmcg

[250BOB]

I have just ordered the Irwell Press book of the LM Garratts, looking forward to receiving it, it's ok, I've  only ordered one.........not twelve !

Same here Brian, just ordered one too.

[Monjac]

I have heard from insider sources that the heavily weathered Garratts have arrived in Liverpool .However quality control are not satisfied with the rusted sections, so , in order to avoid the anticipated  criticism , they are being left out, deboxed in the yard to take on a more natural patina.This process is expected to take about two weeks but with the present storms this period  may be reduced.

[robmcg]

Here is my new pristine LMS 7983 straight out of the box...  minor assembly issues apparent here and there, and the front tank cap reliably not in place... but looks good. Slight plastic finish effect perhaps.  Will possibly weather this, but in the meantime here is a tour around the engine.

 

What looks like weathering is just the way light has struck different textures, I have messed with backgrounds, tone, contrast and saturation but little else.

 

 

Rob

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2014 by robmcg

[Rail-Online]

Has anyone tried yet to remove the lamps?

Of course no loco on a train should have a tail lamp on so I have to get rid of mine.

 

Tony

[robmcg]

I'm sure a scalpel would work. Cover the hole with thin black card. Weather. Most Garratts had patches on their tanks at the lower front of tanks anyway, as well as leaks/staining. Oh and you will need a new lamp bracket. Heljan forgot to add top centre rear brackets on most of the models too...

 

edit; of course this pre-supposes that you are going to always run your engine with the 'front' tank leading, when in fact they ran just as often in 'reverse' (and left coal dust in the eyes of the crew).

Edited July 19, 2014 by robmcg

[brian777999]

It is a superb model but I am surprised that they did not blacken the valve gear as there is a lot of it !

[69843]

Now that they've done a Garratt, and are in the middle of a LNER O2, I wonder how long until the U1 appears?

[stewartingram]

Has anyone tried yet to remove the lamps?

Of course no loco on a train should have a tail lamp on so I have to get rid of mine.

 

Tony

 

Grip with pliers and twist, there is a spot of glue, but mine came out ok.

 

Stewart

[John Isherwood]

Has anyone tried yet to remove the lamps?

Of course no loco on a train should have a tail lamp on so I have to get rid of mine.

 

Tony

 

Prise off the lamp itself with a scalpel blade.

 

This will allow the clear plastic light tube / lens to drop out.

 

You will be left with a keyhole-shaped hole.

 

Plug the circular part with plastic rod, trimmed off inside and out when dry..

 

Cover the rectangular part with a lamp iron - many of the Heljan sprues obtainable from Howes include these.

 

If you retain the removed components, the operating lights could be restored at some later date.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited July 20, 2014 by cctransuk

[JZ]

probably going to leave the lamp on mine, when it finally arrives, as it will be used in both directions.

In anticipation of it's arrival, I have purchased a sound decoder from Olivia's. Can anyone tell me what F16 Easter egg is ?

[Brian Hawkins]

F16 Easter egg.....is the sound of wagons passing over rail joints at speed, quite an effective sound although I seldom use it, I think you will be pleased with Olivia's sound, i certainly am

[John Isherwood]

Not many people know this.

In 1958, Mr. Harold Morris, the Bath shedmaster, was in need of some extra 'umph' for freight working and banking / piloting on the notorious S&D banks.

Though the 9Fs were proving extremely capable, there was little chance of him getting his hands on any for a couple of years.

However, there were several withdrawn ex-LMS Beyer-Garratts lying doing nothing at Derby. Being well-connected in the middle rank of the LMR operational staff, he managed to persuade Derby to let him have the last of the operational Garratts as a stop-gap.

Derby gave 47994 a quick once-over, sufficient hopefully to last a couple of years or so, fitted an 82F shedplate, and sent it off to Bath.

 

Though by no means ideal, the Garratt proved useful in its intended role, and ran out its swansong until the 9Fs became available in 1961.

 

Surprisingly, Ivo Peters was unimpressed by this development and, along with virtually all other enthusiasts, completely failed to photograph 47994 in its final role. Fortunately, BR took this works photo before sending 47994 south.

Regards,
John.

 

AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT - NO PIXELS WITHIN THE SUBJECT AREA WERE INTERFERED WITH DURING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS IMAGE.

 

PS - Everyone seems to manage to post superbly sharp photos - the original of the above photo was 15MB but in resampling it down to below the 1MB image limit it is now pretty poor. How do the rest of you manage?

Edited July 20, 2014 by cctransuk

[John Isherwood]

.... and what did I do to the model?

 

Replaced all the (impossibly fragile) sand-pipes with 0.5mm. steel wire.

 

Removed the headlights, plugged the holes and fitted lamp-irons.

 

Repainted, new BR logo and shedplate, renumbered, (including new worksplate transfers with the correct works number for 47994)!

 

Removed second cabside and door window glazing.

 

New buffers.

 

Removed miniscule coupling links.

 

Fitted Peco Simplex (Hornby Dublo) couplings.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited July 20, 2014 by cctransuk

[JZ]

Not many people know this.

 

In 1958, Mr. Harold Morris, the bath shedmaster, was in need of some extra 'umph' for freight working and banking / piloting on the notorious S&D banks.

 

Though the 9Fs were proving extremely capable, there was little chance of him getting his hands on any for a couple of years.

 

However, there were several withdrawn ex-LMS Beyer-Garratts lying doing nothing at Derby. Being well-connected in the middle rank of the LMR operational staff, he managed to persuade Derby to let him have the last of the operational Garratts as a stop-gap.

 

Derby gave 47994 a quick once-over, sufficient hopefully to last a couple of years or so, fitted an 82F shedplate, and sent it off to Bath.

 

Though by no means ideal, the Garratt proved useful in its intended role, and ran out its swansong until the 9Fs became available in 1961.

 

IMG_6292 small.JPG

 

Surprisingly, Ivo Peters was unimpressed by this development and, along with virtually all other enthusiasts, completely failed to photograph 47994 in its final role. Fortunately, BR took this works photo before sending 47994 south.

 

Regards,

John.

 

AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT - NO PIXELS WITHIN THE SUBJECT AREA WERE INTERFERED WITH DURING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS IMAGE.

 

PS - Everyone seems to manage to post superbly sharp photos - the original of the above photo was 15MB but in resampling it down to below the 1MB image limit it is now pretty poor. How do the rest of you manage?

That's my excuse as well.

[robmcg]

...Everyone seems to manage to post superbly sharp photos - the original of the above photo was 15MB but in resampling it down to below the 1MB image limit it is now pretty poor. How do the rest of you manage?

If you bring images down to a size which is 800 pixels wide (usually 100-250Kb) they are at the default image size for this forum and consequently do not suffer needless re-sizing with loss of quality. Otherwise pics of 1200-1800 pixels wide are usually quite good but tend to look their best only when 'opened'.

 

Here is my lovely LMS 7983 as illustrated a few messages back, but with my rather predictable catalogue-style scene, actually from code 75 C&L hand-made track sections, and a pile of editing, not least blackening the rods. A sharp 800-pixel image in each case. The models certainly tick all the boxes for me.

 

[grog_polymer]

Hi guys,

 

I put my brand new revolving tender Garratt on someones layout with code 100 electrofrog turnouts, Even going through on the straight road the pony wheels just did not want to stay on the track. It also was not picking up power at several locations on the layout where anything else would go through without difficulty. Wait over a year for a beautiful model and this is so disappointing. It spent about as long on the track as it took to get it out of the packaging. Youtube videos show the original, non-rotating bunker version, running fine. Another BRMA member has already sent his back.

 

Anyone else seeing this misbehaviour? Anyone got some fixes? Perhaps weight over the pony trucks?

 

Hattons have offered to send a return satchel to me here in Oz but what I really want is a Garratt that works.

 

Regards,

Greg

[robmcg]

Hi Greg, I think as mentioned in by one or two people in previous posts the back-to-back dimensions on the pony truck wheels might be too narrow. Can be re-set by easing out with flat blade(s). The power pickup seems strange if all other models run ok on the same track, presumably the pickups on the chassis are not contacting. Worth checking these things before returning to Hattons perhaps.

 

Best,

 

Rob

 

typo edit

Edited July 21, 2014 by robmcg

[dandg]

Hi guys,

 

I put my brand new revolving tender Garratt on someones layout with code 100 electrofrog turnouts, Even going through on the straight road the pony wheels just did not want to stay on the track. It also was not picking up power at several locations on the layout where anything else would go through without difficulty. Wait over a year for a beautiful model and this is so disappointing. It spent about as long on the track as it took to get it out of the packaging. Youtube videos show the original, non-rotating bunker version, running fine. Another BRMA member has already sent his back.

 

Anyone else seeing this misbehaviour? Anyone got some fixes? Perhaps weight over the pony trucks?

 

Hattons have offered to send a return satchel to me here in Oz but what I really want is a Garratt that works.

 

Regards,

Greg

Yes, I reported problems with the leading and trailing pony trucks failing to negotiate several types of code 100 points ranging from small radius through to double slips.  I increased the wheel back to backs by about 0.25mm and the loco would then negotiate the same trackwork without incident.  

 

I've also found problems with the trailing pony truck derailing when the loco was hauling 20 or so wagons on or just after exiting radius 2 curves. I have, so far, not attempted to add weights but this may be answer to problem.

[stewartingram]

There was a 2nd thread started on here last week that mentioned problems http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/87816-Heljan-garratt-problems/

I posted (post #5) a comprehensive stripdown that I did of the loco, with its subsequent re-assembly and logical fault-finding at each stage. Might be worth a look? BTW, I haven't even checked the b2b yet!

 

Stewart

[JohnT]

Has anyone here tried, or know anything about the origin of, the Garratt sound files now being offered by Digitrains? Their website doesn't give any clues. As they are for Loksound  I wonder if they are the same as Olivias are selleng.

 

John