2-6-0 + 0-6-2 O Scale
4-8-2 + 2-8-4 1/1 scale
(Google GARRATT Locomotive)
Not seen often in the U.S., but they used to be used quite a bit Africa and the Middle East.
Garratts where also used in Australia.
Magnus
Oh yeah! Forgot about that!
I’m sure they were used other places too, but that was all I could think of right off the top of my head.
NO I haven’t, but couple it up, looks like a beast !
I got to see several of these in South Africa in 1984.
The US and Japan were among the rather few places where Mr Garratt’s Patent Locomotive never caught on.
I have a couple of six-coupled mechanisms without suitable superstructures that could provide a basis for a Garratt. I’m rather torn between that and using them to build a Golwe.
What’s a Golwe? I leave that as an exercise for the student.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with some rolling stock never seen there)
I’ll bite Chuck,
From Wiki,
The Golwé was a type of articulated steam locomotive manufactured in France for use in its West African colonies.
The front engine unit swivelled under the boiler and smokestack, in a similar manner to a Meyer and looking somewhat like a Mallet. The rear engine unit was placed underneath the tender unit, in a manner similar to a Garratt. However the rear unit cylinders were placed under the cab, at the front of the rear unit. The firebox hung low between the two engine units.
Four 2-6-6-2 locomotives were supplied to the Ivory Coast railways in 1930, and three to the Congo-Ocean Railway in the French Congo. The Congo-Ocean railway received two more of the same type in 1935 and five of a modified 2-6-6-4 type. Both railways later turned to Garratt locomotives for their articulated locomotive needs.
Whew! Only one word for those beasts - fugly!
(I know, I know. . . that’s why they make chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.
Keep smilin’
the 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 looks very aerodynamic
So what I want to know is can I double head these on 18 ich radius curves?
[:-^]
Tilden
another country that used garrats was here in england. the LMS had some for heavy coal traffic from the north to london I think they went for scrap in the late 50’s and were replaced by 2-10-0’s class 9F.
Gav
First time I saw a Beyer-Garrett was about 30 years ago in a book on world steam by Kip Farrington. I was mighty impressed and wondered–“Whoa, could I get one of THESE?” And Bill Schopp, a frequent ‘kitbash’ contributor to Railroad Model Craftsman back in those days, actually fabricated one from a couple of Mantua 2-8-2’s, I believe.
Got a chance to watch film of those beasties in action in South Africa several years ago on RFD’s “Trains and Locomotives”, and we’re talking IMPRESSIVE, folks. They might look a little ungainly to American eyes at first, but after you see them running, they REALLY have a lot of presence to them. Think of a Cab-Forward Triplex Big Boy Yellowstone and you kind of get the idea.
Tom [:P]
There is a video out (don’t know if it is still available) called The Garratts of Zimbabwe which is definitely worth watching. Great contemporary (as of late 80s early 90s) footage of the Garratts operating, cab rides and a visit to maintenance shops where these working museum pieces were kept running.
As of the date of the film, Garratts were still earing their keep in mainline service pulling revenue trains. There were plans to keep them running into this century, but with the current polical unrest in Zimbabwe it is uncertain as to what happened to them or, indeed, the railroad itself.
I always thought that an “Americanized” Garratt would look right at home on a freelanced Pacific Northwest logging railroad.
-George
Never heard of the Golwe, looks remiscent of a Vulcan Duplex, had the Vulcan designed further it might take on more Golwe characterisics.
Its like a cross between the Vulcan and a duplex, but the Duplex had a separate tender, forward engine is like any other NA steamer with drivers under the tender like the triplex.
I think the Garrats had to traverse sharper curves, the US had a lot more open country for big boys so didnt need sharper curves. Dunno if there were any US built garrats. I think builders like the Shay competed with other builders and the railroads did compare specs for their needs and bought the best possible, the garret specs may not have met their needs or never had garrats offered and sold to the US. If they were foreign built they would have to have been shipped…by ship over, with so many other loco builders, never came to be.
The most probable excuse for the lack of Garratts in the US was one I read a good many years ago. Since the Garratts carried their consumables (fuel and water) on their engine frames, master mechanics considered the reduction in weight (and adhesion, and thus tractive effort) as the locomotive operated to be unacceptable. By way of contrast, the reduction in weight of the non-powered tender as the run progressed actually made more tractive force available to the trailing load.
At the time Garratts were being introduced, American rail management was obsessed with tractive effort, and anything which would reduce it was rejected out of hand.
Back to my modeling: Whether I erect a Garratt or a Golwe, it will be provided with typically Japanese outline and details. The Golwe would have a different (much more US-style) cab, a better-looking combined sand-and-steam dome casing, an Elesco feedwater heater and elephant ear smoke deflectors. The ‘tender unit’ would lose the round edges. (In fact, the front end would rather resemble a JNR C58 class 2-6-2, http://www.kurogane-rail.jp/sl/ec58.html but with a larger-diameter boiler and smaller drivers.) The deep Golwe firebox lends itself to being modified into a Porta-system gasifier type - especially with exhaust steam readily available from the immediately-adjacent rear cylinders. The story will be that the Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo’s Master Mechanic, with the blessing and support of the mine owners, used the engines from two boiler-expired teakettles as the foundation for the Japanese version of SAR’s Red Devil project - an unsuccessful attempt to extend the reign of the steam locomotive.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with 2 1:80 scale C58s)
LOL! Chuck, you’re a legend! You must be the only bloke on this forum apart from me who’d know what a Golwe is! Do you have the book by Binns & Koch on Meyer articulateds and their derivatives?
Cheers,
Mark.
There are some Garrats on some estate in Texas. Just thought you’d like to know…
The Wiki entry is only partly correct, as is often the case. Both the Golwe’s engine units were articulated in the manner of a Kitson-Meyer. The general arrangement drawings clearly shows this feature. And the “tender” was nothing like that of a Garratt - only the water tank was attached to the engine, the bunker was carried on the main girder frame. The only Garratts configured that way were the three NZR G class locos, which were not typical of the type.
It’s a pity that the people who contribute stuff like this to Wikipedia don’t bother to learn a bit about the subject before they start posting misinformation.
Cheers,
Mark.