Scarab - by Smith and Harrison The Scarab is the first locomotive from the stables of a company in Doncaster, although this time we're not talking Roundhouse!  Indeed, Smith and Harrison are a new company and therefore it was with interest that I asked to review their first offering in the 16mm market.  It comes ready to run in a variety of colours, and only needs a quick battery charge of 4 hours before it starts earning it's living! First Impressions I received the model following its successful debut at Exeter on the stands of PPS and first impressions are very favourable.  The loco came in a fairly stout cardboard box, suitable filled with polystyrene sheet and complete with a 4 hour charger.  The instructions are nicely laid out on a single A4 double sided sheet, and contain all the details you will need to know, complete with some rather good black and white photographs.  The only two things my model didn’t have was the length of rod for the multi height coupling, but that was soon sorted with a spare bit of welding rod from my junk box, and the back to back wheel gauge, again I had one lurking in my tool box.  The back to back gauge is normally included with the loco and I’m sure that the coupling rod will be also. Off the Track The loco is dual gaugeable by means of simply loosening the grub screws on the innermost edge of the wheel sets and sliding the wheels along the axles to the required position.  The wheels aren’t insulated on the model which may cause problems with those with track power, (All Scarabs now come with insulated wheels as standard) but then again why are you using a battery powered loco if you also have track power, and of course one can also look at it the other way.  There are no dimples or markings on the axles, and you must rely on the back to back gauge to ensure that they are correctly set up.   The loco is four wheel drive, with power going to the forward wheel set and transferred to the rear by the means of a delrin chain and sprocket drive, the front axle being driven by metal cogs from the custom made high-torque, low-revving D.C. motor. The chassis is made with laser cut steel frames and comes with a fairly good representation of axle box detailing. The main power switch is nicely hidden on the underside of the loco, as is the charging socket for the non-removable NiMh battery pack. Directional control is by mean of a three way switch in the cab, with a forward, neutral and reverse setting.  The speed controller is nicely painted to match the colour of the loco and is again in the cab on the lower right hand side. Jumping ahead a bit I must say that this chassis alone is worth the cost of the complete loco for strength, durability, pulling power and the pure thought which has gone into the design of it. Detailing   Enough of looking at the underside, time to look at the top!  The body is made of etched brass, with good rivet detail all round.  Very good representation of the various inspection hatches, engine covers, filler caps etc make for a good show of realism.  This is heightened by the excellent cab detail, complete with brake and throttle levers, very realistic seat (so good it is a shame to stick anybody to it in fact) and even a painted dial showing that she isn’t quite in the red, yet. The front of the loco has a very ‘agricultural’ looking grill, complete with a hole for the starting handle, which I would fit just for the fact that it cries out for one! The single working front and rear lights do not overpower the loco at all, and yet look very effective on these earlier and earlier evenings we get at this time of year.  There is even a very effective SH nameplate above the radiator grill.   My favourite part is the buffer beams though.  For these aren’t just the black buffer beams you may expect, but very prototypical ‘wasp’ chevron buffer beams.  This loco would be at home sitting in a quarry with a row of tippers, or on a dockside with a rake of fish wagons.  In fact, it would look at home nearly anywhere where you would expect narrow gauge engines to work.   On the Track   After being so very impressed with the looks and feel of Scarab I was very keen to try her out on the rails of the CLR to see just what she was like. So the power was switched on and she was placed on the track, the direction switch was switched up and the manual speed controller tweaked a tad.  She was off very slowly and smoothly and conducted the first lap light load.  Now I must say I was very disappointed with her uneven motion around my PECO setrack curves and after a circuit I lifted her up to make sure I hadn’t moved or disturbed anything to bring this about.  Everything appeared to be working smoothly off the track so I checked the back to back of her wheel sets on my Roundhouse gauge and found that the wheels were very slightly over gauge.  A quick tweak with the Allen key and both wheels were pushed in by a knat’s whisker and retightened.    Scarab was placed back on the track and I opened the controller a tiny amount.  This time was much better, as totally silently she edged away from the Station platform at something akin to scale snail’s pace!  I left her to run around at this speed but after about 5 minutes I got a bit bored as she hadn’t quite gone half way round and nipped over to her to give her a tad more oomph.    As she picked up speed she was again virtually silent, with just a faint whirr from the motor as she coasted back up to Quarryside Station.  Time for a load to be added I thought.   My Accucraft Excelsior was quietly cooling in the siding, so I borrowed her old load for Scarab, The first to be added was an open 5 plank wagon which I knew Scarab would be able to pull easier, and so it proved.  On the second circuit I added another 5 plank, a circuit after I added another, then another, then I added a box van, guards van and bolster wagon and still Scarab ambled round at a scale 5 – 6 mph, the only difference was a marginally louder motor hum as she hit the gradient 1 – 80 heading into Quarryside Station.  This loco has got torque to spare and can easily haul a load well in excess of what the ‘real’ sized loco would have been able to.   Battery Power   The battery is said to last for two hours, and so I made up a suitable rake of a few open wagons and a guards van and whilst Scarab trundled around, front light blazing I got on and prepared my garden and railway for that evening’s night running, firework and BBQ extravaganza.   It was still going round 3 hours later when my guests started to turn up, and so positive were the comments that future important issues such as lighting the BBQ, running other locos, trying out a colleagues new GVT tram engine on my track and setting off numerous fireworks were conveniently forgotten for another hour whilst everybody examined it in detail and took so many pictures I was beginning to think the paparazzi had arrived.   Conclusion   What can I say to conclude this article?  Well, the Scarab is excellent value for money, for a very competitive £225 you get a very well finished and detailed dual gauge locomotive complete with charger, in fact the only other thing you need to add is a suitable driver, although I still maintain it is a shame to hide the seat detail!   Can I find a bad point?  I had to struggle to be honest; in fact I struggled so hard I even let my wife have a look as she is a past master at finding a fault in anything!  After much thought we came up with two minor criticisms.   Although very well written complete with photographs the instructions are printed on a thick card which when folded to form the booklet looks a bit tatty on the fold and I feel a thick paper would be better.  The other fault is that a 1.5mm Allen key is not supplied with the loco to allow you to change the gauge of the wheels.   I’m sure that this is going to be the first of many such offerings from this new company, and if the Scarab reflects the quality of workmanship and effort they put into making them, then they will be a very welcome addition to the world of 16mm garden railways. Available exclusively from PPS Steam Models.