G SCALE HOBBIES can help bring your garden railway layout to life with Roundhouse Engineering’s Living Steam locos. Precision built by craftsmen in the UK in SM32/SM45/G scale these locos are steam driven by a butane burner. A variety of locos in American, British and European outline are available, including the new Darjeeling D Class Garratt.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is probably one of the most famous narrow gauge railways in the world. Situated in India, this engineering masterpiece which rises a total of 6,850 feet over it’s 50 mile length, was constructed between 1878 and 1881. Built by Beyer Peacock & Co Ltd. At their Manchester works, the Garratt locomotive was delivered to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in 1911 and was put into service on 30th June. It was assigned by the DHR as Class ‘D’ and given the running number 31. The locomotive was thought to have carried the name ‘Highland Chief’ for a short period in the 1920s and was regularly seen working between Tindharia and Darjeeling. It finally earned its keep on the extension lines hauling loads of 200 tons, and was eventually scrapped in 1954.
The Roundhouse Class ‘D’ features a wealth of detail to augment the legendary ROUNDHOUSE performance and reliability.
Technical specifications for the Darjeeling “D” Class Garratt:
- Internal gas firing using our new ‘FG2’ type burner.
- Outside framed 0-4-0+0-4-0 chassis’ with four double acting slide valve cylinders operated by simplified Walschaerts valve gear.
- Water top-up system and water gauge.
- Controls fitted as standard are: steam regulator, safety valve, pressure gauge, displacement lubricator, gas regulator and reversing gear.
- Glazed cab windows.
- Dimensions (loading gauge) are, Length 532mm over buffers, Width 116mm, Height 170mm.
- The wheels are adjustable between 32mm and 45mm gauge. Fitted with insulated wheels as standard.
- Full 2.4GHz radio control for both regulator and reversing valve gear.
- Available in any standard ROUNDHOUSE colour.
- This model requires a minimum track radius of 2′ 6″ (760mm).
Information courtesy of Roundhouse Engineering.