Modelling a SAR 400 Class Garratt

Gavin Thrum completes a narrow-gauge modelling challenge by scratch-building a South Australian Railways (SAR) 400 Class Garratt. Photos and diagrams by the author.

Building a locomotive such as the Garratt was a challenge to say the least, but even after decades of watching this model working on a layout, I can never get sick of seeing it glide along the track with all its elegance and composure. Many questions come from observers, and one is: how on earth did you build it? Well, I'll give it a go, but I might miss something along the way so I'll apologise for that. I built this model in 1991 and took it to Melbourne in 1992 for the Australian Model Railway Association (AMRA) Vic. Branch model railway exhibition at Camberwell Civic Centre. Remember those years! My model of No. 401 won an award for ‘best locomotive’ and we took an SAR layout ‘Beltowie’ along to…

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Australian Model Railway (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024

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