VERY LONG - apologies but there is no heading for this Accucraft model in the review forum.
ACCUCRAFT NG/G16 GARRATT LIVE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
Apart from the British LMS and LNER railways, Algeria, Australia and Tasmania (the home of the very first Beyer-Garratt, the diminutive K1), the defining home of the Beyer-Garratt locomotive has been Sub-equatorial Africa, where many examples of this inordinately powerful type of locomotive have been operating since the first decade of the last century. With a ruling gauge of only 3ft 6in, the famous ‘Cape Gauge’, you might imagine that this limited the size of Beyer-Garratt-format locomotives to toy-town proportions, but in fact, the opposite has been true, with some of the largest locomotives in the world outside the USA being built to the Garrett patents, not only by Beyer-Peacock and Hunslet-Taylor in the UK, but Belgium (John Cockerill), France (for the Algerian State Railways) and Hanomag of Germany, for use in southern Africa. All but the French also built the NG/G16-class locomotive, the subject of this article.
Of course, there were places where even the Cape Gauge was too wide and sweeping, and then it was necessary to resort to the tiny two-foot gauge, similar to that to be seen today all over Wales, the British home of the two-foot gauge. This did little except to reduce the size of the Beyer-Garrett locomotive in proportion, and the subject of this article, the two-foot gauge Alfred County Railway (ACR) Garrett, is still a mighty little locomotive by any standards. As the dimensions of the original show, this is not a toy-town locomotive by any stretch of the imagination: -
NG/G16 Garratt - Technical Details
Length over couplers 48 feet 5 inches
Wheel arrangement 2-6-2 + 2-6-2T
Total wheelbase of loco 43’ 3"
Coupled wheelbase of each power unit 6’ 3"
Power unit wheelbase inc. trailing axles 13’ 10.5"
Driving wheel diameter 2’ 9"
Trailing wheel diameter 1’ 9"
Total heating surface 1,049.1 square feet
Heating surface of tubes 859 sq. ft.
Heating surface of firebox 82.1 sq. ft.
Heating surface of superheater 149 sq. ft.
Grate area 19.5 sq. ft.
Boiler pressure 180 pounds per sq. inch
Cylinders (x 4) 12" diameter, 16" stroke
Valve gear Walschaert
Tractive effort @ 85% pressure 21,553 lb.
Water capacity 1,823 gallons
Weight in working order 62 tons (approx.)
(Table courtesy of Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways)
At the time of writing of this article, February 2007, the prototype of the subject of this review, locomotive No. 140, is in the late stages of a total overhaul in the locomotive workshops of the Ffestiniog Railway for Welsh Highland Railways. The WHR’s third NG/G16, it was acquired through the generosity of a group of German and Swiss enthusiasts. On static display at the 1997 Ffestiniog Railway Gala, it was then moved – a story in itself – to storage at the Glan-y-Pwll depot on the Ffestiniog Railway. The red livery in which it was received from the ACR (and which may well be kept) is that originally applied to this batch of NG/G16s; they were built not for South African Railways (SAR) but for the Tsumeb Copper Corporation. However, they passed directly into SAR service on arrival in Africa, as the intended Tsumeb line had been converted to the ruling 3’6" Cape gauge.
Accucraft’s model
Ian Pearse, co-owner of Accucraft (UK), took the bold decision to develop a 16mm (1/19th scale) Beyer-Garrett model of the NG/G16 locomotive almost three years ago, and it proved, on announcement as a limited-production model, to be an almost instantaneous sell-out, both here in UK and, rather surprisingly, the USA. The model is available in four colours - what has been dubbed ‘Millennium Green’ (actually Edison green, after the house colours of a major sponsor of the line) – a colour that has little appeal to the author, but has proven very popular in certain circles, a hard-wearing all-over black, a near-LMS-maroon, actually called SAR ox-blood red and a mid-Brunswick green. They are batch-built in small numbers, and, considering the amount of work that is entailed in making one, are actually very exceptional value for money, even at a wife-blanching £3000 minus a fill of petrol (not on either of my cars, though). Certainly, making them anywhere else but in China, not far from a very noisy Wu-Hu Air base, would see the price approaching five figures with relative ease. Basic details of this very impressive model are –
Length - 835mm/32.9â€
Width - 125mm/5â€
Height - 178mm/7â€
Gas tank capacity - 130ml
Cylinders - - 12mm bore x 16mm stroke
Boiler - 62mm/2.75†diameter x 247mm/9.75 long
I won’t bore the reader with details of the running gear, which are precisely the same as those of the real thing, apart from size, of course. The fully operational Walschaert valve gear is a work of art - truly a fascinating sight to see it goes steaming by, especially from a low vantage point. Suffice it to say that it looks totally real and of course, in this scale and size, it IS real.
My model was collected from Andrew Steele of Garden Railway Centres near Cheltenham, and it was he who undertook the task of unpacking the model for inspection before we went the 170 miles to collect it from our house in deepest rural Cambridgeshire, after I had ordered it from my office in Tokyo a few weeks beforehand. We arrived to see it in its splendid maroon livery, and an aggrieved Andrew, who had rather wanted to keep it for himself, sighing as it went back into the enormous packing boxes that Accucraft are so famous for. The reason for the prior inspection was a valid one – in spite of their rigorous packing regime, many Accucraft models in the USA have been received with varying degrees of damage – not much fun when you consider that here in Merrie England we pay substantially more for our US-outline Accucraft models than our lucky US pals, mainly due to our substantial VAT, importation and what I call GGGT – Generally Greedy Government Tax.
Sadly, firing up the beast had to await good weather, and a combination of sheer cowardice in the face of sub-zero temperatures here in Flatlandia and one tight curve on the home track did little to help. Last Saturday, however, the crunch came, in the form of an e-mail from our good friend Trevor Goodman of Gauge 3 fame, to come and run BOTH maroon Garratts (his and mine) on his large and impressive track not far from Leicester. So in spite of the worsening weather, we fuelled up the ML350, put chains in the back just in case, and hied off to his place for the inaugural run.
I have to say that having two identical locomotives to prepare, one of which had been run before by a knowledgeable owner, helped quite a bit. For a start, Trevor had already figured out how to pick the thing up safely, let alone turn it upside-down, and taking my cue from him, we upended it to expose all the bits underneath that needed attention prior to firing up.
Firstly, you notice the large number of oiling points on this model from the underside view – I counted – all told – 110 of them. All the wheel bearings – this is a ‘double’ 2-6-2 remember – and all the many points on the valve gear linkages and pivoted coupling rods, too. Then, make sure that all the wheels are actually tight on their dual-gauge axles – mine was set to 45mm, but one wheel was loose. The hex-key provided for the purpose was employed on this simple task. Turning it right way up, you then go over all the oiling points where gravity would otherwise have stopped you, and do the slide-bars and piston rods.
Taking the roof off the cab is easy – the bent-wire hinge is very flexible in operation, if a tad cheap-looking on a £3000 model, but it stays in place once put back. Some owners have found that it doesn’t and have remedied that by installing pieces of cunningly positioned brass angle to act as in internal frame, but I do not yet have the need to do so. Nevertheless, for the first run I took it off completely, offering me clear access to all the controls. As I get older, I have found that my eyes have gotten smaller in direct proportion to an increase in thumb size, and need all the help I can get manipulating small controls like these. Remembering the mantra – GOW – gas, oil, water, and proceed to fill up the reservoirs as instructed. Gas it up until it fizzes out, steam oil in the large displacement lubricator to about 20mm short of the top, leaving the cap off temporarily to allow any air to escape, and then, as it was a cold day of about 2C, warmed-up rainwater into the boiler in endless amounts, or so it seemed. This is a BIG boiler, and seemed to take forever to come up to about ¾ glass. I have fitted a Milton Locomotive Works Goodall valve for future extended running, but forswore its use on the first run in the increasingly worsening weather. Then, as a final gesture to the weather, pour in a measure of warmish water (who can truly interpret the word ‘hot’, as used in the instructions?) to about 12mm/1/2†up the sides of the cylindrical gas-tank. AFTER filling the gas-tank, please. Else you will have real problems getting gas to flow into it. I elected to forego the pleasures of bending my neck like a pretzel to look into the smoke-box, which opens about enough to see very little, and turning on the gas, lit up via the stack. The inevitable jet of flame was knocked back into the firebox by the flat of the hand, and we sat back and watched, in the steadily falling sleet, for the needle to come off the pin.
Well, about twelve minutes passed in companionable near-silence, apart from sundry fizzes and hisses from the warming-up loco, until the needle grudgingly lifted, accompanied by the aroma of burning steam oil – the residue of the initial test firing I fondly imagined to have taken place to the accompaniment of the jets noise from the FLANKER jets of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force in far-off Wu-Hu. Shortly after the needle began to move, one of the two safety valves blew off, with only about 20 of the necessary 65psi showing on the pressure gauge. A quick twiddle with a pair of fine-nosed pliers did the trick, and near-silence resumed. Using the same pliers to open the rather fiddly drain-cocks underneath each of the four large cylinders, and with about 60psi showing, the loco was put into full forward gear by rotating the rather odd ‘steering wheel’ and the screw-type, direct-acting regulator knob was opened up for the first time. A very large cloud of steam and oil belched out of the stack, water jetted out of the drain-cocks, followed closely by steam, and we were off! A slight hesitation, another burp of emulsion out of the stack and then it proceeded majestically, albeit roofless, down the track, accompanied by a great plume of steam and prototypical jets issuing from under the cylinders, to the sound-track of a magnificent cadence of clearly audible and deep chuffs. Giving it its head for about 20m or so, we turned down the regulator, closed the drain-cocks, and coupled it up to a short train of twelve LGB tank cars with an Accucraft ‘in-betweener’ to make the coupling. Opening up again, the loco moved with great grace and presence, without any obvious effort, over Trevor’s wet track, for the next 23 minutes, emitting a copious steam plume and those wonderful multiple chuff noises as it did so, before running out of gas with a just a tad of water left on the gauge. We followed the instructions to the letter on ‘blowing down’ the water contents of the lubricator, and found that there was in fact very little left in the lube tube to blow out in any case. There was little steam, either.
Cleaning up was a mite tedious, and took quite a lot of Mrs Goodman’s paper towels, seeing as how we had two Garratts to mop up and dry out. I syringed the now-cold gas-tank warming water out of the bath surrounding the gas tank, and let the engine cool down. The weather, by now, was appalling, and we had a sixty-mile drive back home in steadily worsening conditions. Only the fact that we were in a ‘mighty’ German FWD made the journey home as easy as it was, in the end.
Comments…
What did we learn from our first firing of the Accucraft model? Well, first of all, it was very easy to get going, once you had warmed up all that water…putting hot water into the boiler might have been an option in view of the near-zero outdoor temperature. The note in the instruction manual to cover the stack with a cloth might seem ridiculous, but would have been worth doing, had there been one to hand. The sharp exhaust propels the emulsified oil detritus a LONG way into the air – chances are that you are going to catch some of it – usually in a convenient eyeball.
Here then are the good/bad points, in no particular order –
a. It is a beautifully smooth runner – it glides down the track like the QE2, moving over points/switches – whether facing or trailing – with nary a hitch, but with one important proviso. The cylinder drain cocks operate by rotating a small but projecting spindle. In the open position they protrude straight downwards, and on certain makes of point/switch they WILL impact the base of the operating lever, bringing the entire loco to an abrupt halt. With a long and heavy train easily hauled behind it, this could pose BIG derailment problems for some operators.
b. Pay real attention to the level of steam oil in the lubricator, and make certain before you put the cap on to run that there is at least half an inch/12mm space – enough to uncover the small hole in the pass-through emulsifying steam pipe.
c. Ensure that every wheel bearing, joint and linkage is lubricated before starting up – it is impossible to do this without turning the locomotive upside down. There is only one way to pick it up – with the locomotive facing to the left, the right hand goes under the boiler where the ash-pan would be located, and the left hand supports the front engine…then hold your breath and over she goes onto the pre-positioned foam bed. While you are there, check the tightness of the wheels on the axles, and make sure that all the steam unions are good and tight, too.
d. When running, try and ensure steady progress rather than record-breaking speed. The real thing rarely went faster than about 40kph/25mph, if that. This locomotive is extremely powerful, but remember that because of the design of the steam-ways, most of the power comes from the front engine, rather than the rear engine. The sight of the front engine ‘wheel-slipping’ on the sleet-covered track was memorable, but would probably not be repeated on dry track on a warm day. So rein in your enthusiasm for a fast runner, this locomotive moves in a stately but inexorable fashion in its very own unique way that has to be seen to be fully appreciated.
e. Remember that on a cold and windy winter day, like the one on which we were running, the warm-up time, and therefore the gas consumption to raise steam, will be quite a lot higher than on a warmer day – the running time will suffer as a result. Keeping the gas tank warm by adding more warm water certainly helped steaming – the burners picked up immediately and sounded healthier than before the water was added.
f. While mentioning the subject of burners, note that the twin gas burner installation is very quiet indeed - in fact, I could not hear my locomotive as I ‘trimmed the fire’ to get a good run whilst maintaining pressure. Mind you, after a lifetime spent shooting big guns it might just be me.
g. Such a large loco needs a goodly period of cooling down after a run. Be patient – let it. The large amount of metal in this model, almost 38 pounds of it, absorbs a lot of heat – most of it remains pretty hot for quite a while. Do not ask me how I know this; just pass me the Band-Aids, darnit….
So what would I do to make it better? That’s always a difficult one to answer, as the designer certainly knew what he was doing, in spite of the reliance on a rather antiquated twin gas burner design. It is a very free steamer, as shown by its eagerness to move away with very little regulator on its very first run. However, I believe that the way that most of us over here in UK run locomotives of this ilk, on fairly high-off-the-ground layouts of the G1-type, may have exposed a weakness, maybe not. It was just under 2C on the day we ran, and there was not only sleet and blowing snow to contend with, but also a pretty forceful wind, and on the high tracks this wind whistled underneath the locomotive and acted as a cooler on the long, fully-exposed main steam pipe that takes the steam to the rear engine from the front-positioned steam T-piece. This MAY have had a deleterious effect on the steaming performance…more experimentation will be needed to see. But the view of the three of us on that day, based on about eighty-five years collectively of running live steam, is that some form of insulation might be a good idea. I will be trying out my theory by getting hold of some longitudinally split insulation tube made of dense poly-foam, as used on a modern micro-bore domestic heating system, and wrapping it around the long exposed surface of the steam pipe. I’ll let you know how the experiment goes, but it surely can’t hurt. Ian Pearse, in conversation, mentioned that the design of the final run of models would be changed to permit a very much shorter rear engine steam supply, thus ensuring an equal division of the steam to each engine.
My only other gripe is that I am not too happy about the way that the smokebox front appears to be retained in the smokebox proper by nothing more than a tight friction fit, rather than being mechanically retained by the use of a couple of strategically placed set-screws around the rim of the smokebox front. It is my feeling that a few hot and cold cycles might be enough to loosen it completely, leaving the smokebox effectively open to the atmosphere. Two small and nigh-on imperceptible set-screws would do the trick, located at three and nine o’clock.
In summary then – it is
· a very fine and impressive model of a fascinating prototype. Apart from the out-of-scale contents of the ‘model’ cab, just about very single feature to be seen on the real thing is there in perfect model form – every pipe, every rivet and bolt-head, every cable run and virtually every detail is faithfully rendered in a mixture of highly-detailed brass lost-wax castings or stainless steel machined parts. The model, of course, is otherwise made of brass, stainless steel and nickel silver. Plastic has no place on a model of this calibre. My model has a faultless finish, with beautiful and complex yellow lining to augment the already fine maroon and black paint scheme. The colours are densely applied, but do not hide the copious rivet detail. No speck of dust or slightest scratch marred the large surfaces on either the end bunkers or the large diameter boiler. Incidentally, the boiler lagging proved very effective, and the loco ran pretty cool to the touch throughout. Except underneath the ‘firebox/ash pan’, as mentioned earlier in this article.
· as near true-to-scale as it is possible to be within the constraints of making it capable being re-gauged for 45mm gauge track – it was MEANT to run on 32mm gauge track, like its two-foot original, and is, I’m told, about 5mm too wide as a result. Most onlookers will never know. I didn’t notice, and I see the real things at least four times a year.
· incredible value for money, even at the UK price of £2950, and well worth the wait and anticipation. In the USA, where it is almost given away, so to speak, it just HAS to be the large-scale live steam bargain of the century.
· a true collector’s item that is on a par with the rarity of most Aster models. Barring a radical and unlikely rethink on the production numbers, there will never be more than 200 examples of this model worldwide. Seeing one at a day out might be unusual enough, but seeing two identical locomotives together, as we did last weekend, has to be a real highlight in any live-steam fan’s year. So if you want one, there is literally no time to be lost in placing your order to your convenient Accucraft dealer – wherever you live. You will still probably have to wait until 2008, though. A model as good as this one is a sure-fire investment, and no, I am not related to Mr Pearse.
To say that I am impressed would give a misleading impression to the reader. It would be more true to say that I am smitten. It sits on the trackbed beside me as I write this note, quiet now, and cool.
But it would not take long to come to life again, now would it? Even though it’s dark outside…
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
Post Script: Some of you may be interested to know that after an extensive rebuild, one of the original pair of 0-4-0 + 0-4-0 K1 Garratts is again running, this time on the WHR. And that the fourth and probably last NG/G16 has arrived and awaits the further attention prior of a pre-funded rebuild.
Acknowledgements:
I am indebted to Miss Claire Britton and the rest of the team of Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways for permission to use details from their excellent website (http://www.festrail.co.uk), including images and data tables. In recompense for the help I received from WHR, I heartily recommend a visit to this beautiful line in north-west Wales, not only to see the originals of the Accucraft model in action, but to share with me the wonderful landscape in which it runs. Will I see you there?
