|
John Bremner and I are looking at the feasibility of
building two Garratts as a
joint-project (i.e. one each). We'd never want to get in
to an awkward situation as to who owned the loco if we only
built one if we ever had to go our separate ways.
We're looking for proven designs for the chassis and the
boiler so as to avoid having to modify too much during the build
stages - we'd like to be able to finish them before we get
too old to appreciate the results of our efforts!
At the moment,
L'il Lima (by Keith Watson) is the front-runner for
the chassis as we
want Walschaerts valve gear. We
might have to live with slide-valves though. I have got a full set of drawings for a L'il Lima
and will draw up the modified chassis, cylinders and valve
gear in AutoCAD to see how it all looks.
We are still investigating options for a locomotive-type
boiler (not Briggs or marine) that is capable of providing
steam to four reasonably large cylinders. Working to the
maximum size as dictated by the Austrian boiler code, we
should be OK.
We then need to work out the size of a "typical" person to
design a ride-in cab around. See the
Workshop page.
The photo above is of a 2' 6" gauge Sierra Leone
Government Railway 2-6-2 + 2-6-2. Though it gives you an
idea, the final design is likely to vary in a lot of
details; not least of which is we'd build it outside
frame for stability and probably a 2-6-0 + 0-6-2 - but
it gives you the general idea. This loco is a bit more
"elegant" and more easily modified to accept a sit-in
driver than a South African NGG16 (see below) which was
one of the other potentials. |
