I have the urge to bash a Garratt style loco in HO. Probably will use a pair of 0-4-0’s for donors.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Funny that you mention this project. I have been working on a 0-6-0 + 0-6-0 Beyer Garratt. I scratch built the frame and watertanks from brass. It started as a Mantua 2-6-6-2. I still need to do all the detailing and then I need to paint it.
I would suggest getting two locomotives that are identical. This way the drive trains are the same and will run together and also look like they were built together.
Let me know if you want any other suggestions.
If you wanna do somethin like this one, you’ll need a little more than 0 4 0’s. LMAO
ha ha, gotta love the 4-8-2-2-8-4s. 
Why not go Aussie and buy a AD60 Class Garratt http://eurekamodels.com.au/Garratt.html
Too bad I don’t have 800 Bucks to buy it. Its a beautiful model. Do you know if that is Australian Dollars or US Dollars. But I still can’t afford it.
Its AUD.
does anyone know of an affordable rtr garret in ho scale?
Thanks for your responses. While the RTR model looks great–it doesn’t meet my immediate needs. I ordered two 0-4-0’s with tenders for my first venture. I plan to us the tender shells as tanks and will use a 50 foot flat car as the frame/platform to get the project started. This will be under $50.00 US.
If your after an 0-4-0+0-4-0 Garratt you could do worse than looking at this engine:
The world’s first Garratt (some would argue the second actually) was K1 built for the NE Dundas Tramway in Tasmania, Australia it is a 0-4-0+0-4-0.
It is a 2ft gauge narrow gauge loco. Built by Beyer-Peacock in Manchester UK in 1909, it was returned to the UK in the 1960’s and dispalyed for many years at the UK National Railway Museum at York. It is owned by the Ffestiniog Railway and is currently being restored to operating condition for operation on their subsiduary North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway.
Restoration is nearly complete - check out the following website:
Somewhere in the last few days, I saw an article in one of the model mags. I don’t think it was a recent magazine, but anyway a guy had kitbashed two MDC shays and an IHC boiler and cab into a shay Garrat. Was a really cool loco. Just wish I could remember where I saw it .[%-)] OK, I found it it was in the may 2006 Model Railroading Magazine and it was Paul Templars MRR. Instead of an IHC boiler and cab he used a Model Power Boiler and cab.
corksean12 wrote; “does anyone know of an affordable rtr garret in ho scale?” There are none. Your choices are limited to the Eureka NSWGR 60 class, which is not yet available, or a couple of whitemetal & etched brass kits for South African Garrratts made by the UK kit manufacturer DJH. Or scratchbuilding… Cheers, Mark.
Mark–maybe I’m wrong, but didn’t PFM/United offer a Garratt some years back in brass? Seems to me that I remember an ad for one, but it was years ago. Reason I ask, is that I was wondering if there might be one that could turn up on E-Bay or something.
I model strictly American steam, but I’ve always thought that those Garratts were uncommonly handsome engines–saw a program about South African Garratts not too long ago on our American RFD-TV program: “Trains and locomotives” and I was really taken with them.
Actually, I’m glad to see that some American modelers are working on some Garrats–I’d like to see photos of the completed models–might give me something to do with those two Pennsy M1’s that I really don’t have much use for, LOL!
Tom [:)]
Tom, you’re quite right. There have been at least three different brass model AD60s produced over the years. The PFM United models were, I believe, part of a batch that were commissioned by an Australian retailer, the Model Dockyard. Others were made more recently by Samshonga for other Australian model shops. But I deliberately didn’t mention these, as the OP asked about “affordable r-t-r”, which these definitely aren’t. The Model Dockyard Garratts never ran well, if at all, but this hasn’t stopped their price hitting the stratosphere. The recent Korean models ran superbly, and have a price to match. I too would be interested in seeing how an American modeller would interpret a Garratt - most of the freelance Garratts I’ve seen were not very convincing. People cobble their models together out of bits and pieces, and they always wind up having long. skinny conventional boilers, instead of short, fat boilers with deep fireboxes. As a result, the proportions always look wrong. Hopefully Hal will do a better job! Cheers, Mark.
boxcar_jim wrote: “The world’s first Garratt (some would argue the second actually) was K1…” The second? What was the first, then? Mark.
Hal, if you haven’t yet seen it, this website may interest you: http://users.powernet.co.uk/hamilton/source.html Cheers, Mark.
i believe it was June’s Model Railroading Magizine that had the “Shay Garratt”.
I shall post a picture of my 0-6-0 + 0-6-0 when I get home. It doesn’t have all the details finished yet but it is getting there. My inspiration for this projct came from my trip down to the Antarctic and Argentina. When we were around Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina we rode the train at the end of the world. They have a 2-foot guage Beyer Garratt that runs on a daily Basis. The builder’s plates show that it was bilt in 1994. That is not a typo. It is only 12 years old. it was an 0-4-0+0-4-0 and was bright red. I will post a picture of it as well.
So you’ve ridden the FCAF, and seen No.2, “Ing. L.D.Porta”? Absolutely amazing part of the world, eh? And No.2 is a remarkable perfomer for it’s size. Cheers, Mark.
Yep. I plan to build an HO scale replica of Ing. L. D. Porta someday. I need access to the machine shop here at school before I can do that project especially since i want to make it out of brass. i also have a source to get brass at a reasonable price. $45 for 1 1/4" brass rod. I also had the opprotunity to see Beyer Garratts when I was living in Scotland (can remember if it was Wales or Scotland ) and also when I lived in Australia ( There was a railway there that had a working one but I can’t remember where and i think it was 2-foot guage or something similar)
I want to go see the Garratts in Africa sometime but that is another trip.