Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Garratts Galore

Having watched Tornado being shunted onto a siding the first thing I did was head back inside to find some coffee, at which point I saw my first working model of the day; an LMS Garratt made from Meccano. While not as impressive as a real Garratt in steam this video should give you an idea of just how big these locomotives were when they were in use on the British mainline. Unfortunately none of these locomotives were preserved, although there is a standard gauge Garratt (I think a South African one) in the Power Hall at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester which is worth seeing (I was there for a wedding and couldn't get a useable photo).

Strangely having never seen a model of a Garratt in the flesh before there were actually two others making appearances on different layouts at Barrow Hill Live; an O gauge and an N gauge one. But details of the layouts on show can wait for another post.

4 comments:

  1. These are very impressive models.
    Garretts everywhere at the moment.

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  2. You have to admire folk building things like this from Meccano...I'm not very good at it, preferring Lego as my perverse medium. But the great thing about Meccano is that it really is engineering...I wonder how many boys in the fifties and sixties were turned on to careers in industry through this medium? I think that might be a delicious bit of my favourite loco in the entire world in the background..."Butler Henderson"...I wonder if you took photos of him... OK, I am very fond of "Prince", too!

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    1. I'm a Lego person as well, although I don't think I ever managed a steam locomotive -- I have a vague recollection of something monorail like though.

      You're two for two on the loco ID as it is indeed Butler Henderson. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos this year, but I do have a few from last year and they would make a good intro to a post I want to do so watch this space.

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  3. I used Meccano. To make those locos is a real triumph.

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