Incredibly cool photos of trains
Discussion
WelshChris said:
Our Welsh Highland Railway Garratts (Beyer Peacock) have the water tank at the front and coal at the rear. Huge bits of kit despite being only two-foot gauge.
The advantages of the Garratt were its extreme flexibility (two articulated 'power units' on a single main frame, plus leading - and often trailing - axles as well), the spreading of their weight over a lot of axles and a lot of length, the carrying of water and fuel on the main frame (effectively making them a giant tank engine) and the firebox, grate and ashpan being slung below the main frame between the articulated bits, allowing it to be very large and wide. This made the Garratt ideal for sinuous, steeply graded, uneven and lightly laid railways in the colonies. The north-bound climb to Shap Summit is considered a challenge in the world of UK steam - four miles of 1-in-75 - while the south end of the Settle-Carlisle was the infamous 'Long Drag' at 16 miles of 1-in-100.The big Garratts on East African Railways were working 330 miles between Mombassa and Nairobi, nearly all of it on an upward climb of 1-in-80, and with trains weighing between 1200 and 1500 tons. That's where a massive firebox and ashpan really comes into its own.
The NSWGR had a class of 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratts (which must have virtually formed a train in and of themselves - nearly 110 feet long!) which saw out their operational lives double-heading 1500-ton coal hopper trains up a 1-in-40 bank near Newcastle, NSW.
As seen here (don't want to hotlink or copy/paste):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garratt3/7392271210
That entire album is rich with content for this thread.
'Big Boy' didn't need to be especially light or flexible, it just needed to be very, very powerful. So the Mallet-type layout with the rear set of driving wheels, the boiler and the cab all rigidly mounted to the main frame was a better solution.
Edited by 2xChevrons on Monday 10th October 13:22
2xChevrons said:
The NSWGR had a class of 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratts (which must have virtually formed a train in and of themselves - nearly 110 feet long!) which saw out their operational lives double-heading 1500-ton coal hopper trains up a 1-in-40 bank near Newcastle, NSW.
[/footnote]
Here's some video of that, that I came across a few months ago.[/footnote]
WelshChris said:
Our Welsh Highland Railway Garratts (Beyer Peacock) have the water tank at the front and coal at the rear. Huge bits of kit despite being only two-foot gauge.
Great photo. Tried to get onboard during a weeks holiday in Dolgellau area, but didn't realise we would have to book several days in advance to get in!
WelshChris said:
Our Welsh Highland Railway Garratts (Beyer Peacock) have the water tank at the front and coal at the rear. Huge bits of kit despite being only two-foot gauge.
I can never remember which one - Beyer, Garratt or Peacock - used to own the lovely house just outside Berwyn on the Llangollen Railway. Turns out to be Beyer who had Llantysilio Hall. Always a spot I look out for when I'm on the train.CooperD said:
Trevatanus said:
Ha ha. No, I believe they returned it back in the colour scheme it had when it worked for the Steel Company Of Wales at Port Talbot Steelworks many years ago. 
I have also done a very short video and put it on Youtube of this train leaving Bolton Abbey Station.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTG_p1FsLDg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTG_p1FsLDg
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