Restored Australian articulated returns to steam in Canberra

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Restored Australian articulated returns to steam in Canberra

kamblach has no file photos?oh that costs money

G(ood) Day Mates

Link to their wed site has some pictures.

http://canberrarailwaymuseum.org/home1

An Australian “Big Boy”, who knew.

What,no pictures. Business as usual from Trains Mag.

Hopefully: Trains will publish some pictures of this ‘beastie’ and its operations !

For more info go to the Canberra Railway Museum site. Their is a page dedicated to the engine. It contains at least 50 pages of info and pics. It’s really nice.

And yes I’m also surprised that picture was not included with this story.

Seems impressive but at only half million pounds and 59,560 lbf tractive effort there are many northerns that can out perform this machine. But still impressive all the same and I would travel far to see it in operation.

I live down under, and I hadn’t heard of the restoration until this article. Here is a link to the ABC Australia news item.

Thanks for the link to down south!

The Garratt articulated locomotive is a magnificent machine. And very large for a small rail line in New South Wales. I do believe Garrats were used in freight and passenger service. I could be wrong.

Yes, picture would be very nice.

That would be a fun engine to see. I have ridden on several historic trains in Australia. The Aussies love trains too!

This is a real achievement. Small by US standards, but large elsewhere, the AD60 class Garratt was probably the largest such locomotive built by Beyer Peacock, and one of the most powerful. I believe that only one of the South African classes and the legendary East African Railways 59 class was more powerful, although not as heavy. I have ridden on one of these hauling a coal train to Sydney, and it was awe inspiring. The long standing joke with many engine crews was the story of a rather naïve enthusiast that had been told that the stoker needed assistance on a long climb west of Sydney, by a bit of hand shovelling. As to be expected they slowly turned off the stoker, and left him on the end of the shovel (colloquially known as “the banjo”). You can guess how he was after this experience.

What is the gauge of this locomotive. I saw narrow gauge Garrett engines in Queensland in early 1960’s and was wondering if they are similar to the NSW engine.

Anytime a steamer gets restored successfully, in any hemisphere, it’s a good thing for lovers of steam locomotives. Yes, please someone post some pictures on the web or send some to TRAINS magazine so all of us can enjoy this remarkable machine.

The biggest failing of American railroad motive power, no Bayer-Garretts… Imagine a D&RGW L-72, outside frame, wow!

Good to see it back. I worked on these loco’s at Broadmeadow Loco. They had a lot of grunt. I was sent to attend a ‘Hotbox’ at Awaba, travelling in the cab of an AD60, heading towards Kotara we got stopped and were told we had to assist a failed Steel Train to Sidings, near Cardiff Works. We already had close to a full load. We proceeded to the ailing train, coupled up, with a blowing of whistles and horns, we departed, it was long hard slug, up through Kotara, to the crest at Tickhole Tunnel, you could have walked faster. When we got to the siding, we found that one of the 44Class had shut down and the other was shedding power. We virtually pushed near double our load over that hill. They were filthy to work on, could leak steam like a sieve. No loco could have the job they done better, considering the conditions and that era of the NSW Railways.