Garratt in Australia!

[dorin]

I made a quick trip to Australia for a conference.
I had a brief moment to visit the Australian National Railway museum in Adelaide.
This is the first Garratt I saw that was not missing many parts!

Garratt.jpg (222.94 KiB) Viewed 3563 times

[Steamer Al]

I made a quick trip to Australia for a conference.
I had a brief moment to visit the Australian National Railway museum in Adelaide.
This is the first Garratt I saw that was not missing many parts!

Garratt.jpg

Those Garratts are sure interesting engines... Not exactly "pretty" (in my opinion) but fascinating none the less.

Alex

[Bill Shields]

Saw a few in Kenya 45+ years ago in what I believe was meter gauge for KAR

We were allowed to climb all over and around without worrying.

The museum guide told the parents...look after your kids.

If they fall and break an arm or leg, it is your problem ..this is not the USA.

One mother was concerned that her son might accidently 'start' the loco. The guide assured her that " the keys are all locked up"

Impressed by length but otherwise appeared 'small' by our standards.

[dorin]

Was this some trick for getting extra traction?
Or was it done to distribute weight over bridges?

[Bill Shields]

It is an articulated loco. More drivers, more weight, more traction, needs to get around corners..

In the States we usually put all the drivers under the boiler. Here some are under the tender, but there is also water up front, so weight change can be kept balanced.

There were exceptions (Erie triplex):where we put drivers under the tender, but they had a habit of getting slippery as water and coal were consumed.

[Gra2472]

Excellent photo. I was wondering though if anyone had a good photo or drawing of how they did the articulated connections between the engines and boiler chassis/carriage assembly. I am having a hard time finding anything. I have a couple of little 2-8-0 live steam locomotives that I might turn into a Garratt.


Garrett A. (Yes I was named after the locomotive, thanks dad!)

[Bill Shields]

Garrett A. (Yes I was named after the locomotive, thanks dad!)

at least it wasn't 'Suzie'.....

[Gra2472]

If my old man was Johnny Cash, I probably wouldn’t complain about being a “A Boy Named Sue”

[Bill Shields]

[SPSteam2491]

Over in Thirlmere, at the NSW Rail Museum, they have an AD60 Garrett which was the largest ever made. 4-8-4 + 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. That engine (#6040) was very complete when I saw it in 2016, though I don't think that one can run.

Garret locomotives have so many advantages over our typical articulated engines in the US.

• More weight on the drivers (fuel and water are used for traction instead of carried behind)

• More equalized weight distribution (drivers are less likely to spin)

• Boiler swings into the curves instead of out of the curves

• Shorter, fatter boiler gives better steaming capacity

• No obstructions under the ash pan (also allows for wider firebox)

The only disadvantages for the Garrets are the steam needs to travel further to the cylinders & the traction effort will decrease as the fuel and water supplies are used up. Overall, their benefits far out weigh the negatives and it is interesting they never became an option in the US. Possibly due to the design being owned by an English company (Beyer, Peacock and Company) and the US had their own builders and didn't want to pay royalty.

[Bill Shields]

but then there is the disadvantage of 'will they fit on existing turntables' ?

Granted -> some of the articulated locos in this country would not fit on turntables, but removing the tender generally took care of that problem (annoying as that would have been).

getting the tender off of a Garrett....well...I am not sure where you would start without a sky-hook

[Pontiacguy1]

Possibly due to the design being owned by an English company

One of the 'big three' locomotive manufacturers had license to build Garretts for the US/Canada market, but never built any. I am sure there were other reasons why they were not used, or even experimented with, in the US. Would have thought that some US railroad would have given them a try, but it just never happened.