Sacrilege!

In the days leading up to the Greenock show with Dduallt Himself got some more work done on Garratt 143.

Progress on the chassis has come to a halt while he awaits the arrival of a new 14BA tap for the fly cranks, his previous one having disappeared somehow.

He has got the wheelsets and the gearbox fitted and the cylinders are loosely in position.

So in the meantime he's started work on the front water tank.

He tells me that he's had to make a change to the way it's attacked at the back.

Usually there's a long screw comes down from the top of the tank but it can't be used in this case because of the difference in the fittings on the top of 143's tank compared to the earlier batch of NGG16s which the kit was made to represent.

Instead he has made up a bracket to attach it to the frame.

The outline of the tank is clear to see here although it has yet to have the outer wrapper fitted.

The overlays for the front and the rear are in place though and - much to the designer's horror, no doubt - the rivet detail has been filed off because 143 has a smooth-sided, welded tank.

It's very early days, of course, but it's terrific to see that distinctive Garratt shape emerging already.