Now here's an interesting thing ............ maybe .............. I hope

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As many of you will be aware by now, having sold The Earl I "re-invested" the funds in a second hand gauge 3 (G64) GWR pannier tank built from a GRS kit. Not strictly G scale I suppose, but I will try and post some better pics in the next day or two.
Anyhoo, today I had reason to turn this beast upside down for a sneeky peeky at it's working and here's what I found. The resin body (with white metal detailing parts) is attached to a very solid steel and brass chassis (not too unlike the Earl's chassis), onto which is a VERY solid mounting for the very beefy looking Mabuchi motor and brass gearbox. This gearbox drives the third axle .......... and here's where the difference comes with the Accucraft way of doing things ......... which is the only axle which is rigidly mounted. Axles one and two both have a little sideways movement, but they are also able to move up and down by the simple means that their bearing mounts are attached to the chassis by means of a slide. A very simple pivotted arm is attached to each of these sliding bearings so that, if one axle drops, the other is raised (if that makes sense?). All of this means that the loco sits square and true on the track, but is able to cope easily with the kind of undulations that are inevitable with a garden railway. Of course, plunger pick-ups are provided for ALL six wheels - no brainer that one really

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Now my standard gauge track currently runs to an 8' long, straight siding, so I can't really comment on how this loco would work on a "proper" layout (although I'm pretty confident that it will run very nicely). BUT the point is that here we have a 6 coupled loco fitted with a compensated chassis who's construction is so simple that it can be bolted together in the home workshop. Not only that, but it has been designed, commissioned and built, not by some major manufacturer with large resources and foreign build facilities, but by a group of enthusiastic model makers who run a shop!!
And the price for this fantasticly simple and yet effective piece of model engineering? Currently available via the GRS website at £658.73 for the complete kit including Slaters wheels, motor and gearbox etc.
I guess that the point I'm making is that not only is it possible to engineer a chassis that is well suited to the rough and tumble of an electrically powered garden railway, but that you don't need a massive amount of facilities or investment in order to do so within a reasonable budget .......... All that you DO need is to know what you're doing.