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Garratt Locomotives of the World by A E Durrant w/ Dust Jacket
Garratt Locomotives of the World by A E Durrant
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
copyright 1969, 1981
207 Pages Indexed
Contents
Introduction7
Articulated Locomotives9
The Garratt Locomotive21
Europe31
Asia47
Australasia65
America81
Africa99
South Africa113
Central Africa149
East Africa177
War Locomotives192
Appendix199
Abbreviations200
Bibliography201
Acknowledgements203
Index205
The year 1968, when the manuscript for the original edition of The Garratt Locomotive was completed, marked the end of a fifty-nine year era, during which the Garratt type of locomotive was produced. Starting with a small two-footgauge machine for Tasmania, Beyer Peacock & Co Ltd of Gorton, Manchester, developed the type for all kinds of services, from shunting to express passenger work, and the Garratt was exported to every continent. By 1968 the wheel had turned full circle and what are possibly the last Garratts to be built were being completed in South Africa. These were for the two-foot-gauge, a curious coincidence.
While Beyer Peacock's name has always been associated with the Garratt type, which this company called a 'Beyer Garratt', it will probably be a surprise to many to learn that only about two-thirds of all Garratts were built in Manchester, some being built by other British firms, and many abroad. Of this other third, many were built under licence from Beyer Peacock, while others were clearly 'pirated'.
Much has been written about Garratts, most of the Beyer Peacock designs being fully described in the railway and technical press, so that it is not the intention of this book simply to repeat such information. Indeed, the constructional details have been commented on but briefly and in the tables of principal dimensions which are appended to each chapter, a literature reference has been given which will enable the researcher to consult the appropriate books or magazines for further information.
This book traces the development of the Garratt as a locomotive type, and, in the first chapter, reviews the principal alternative types of articulated steam locomotives which preceded or offered competition to the Garratt. Details of work performed by the various Garratt classes have been included wherever available, this information comprising the routes worked, the loads hauled on the ruling gradients, and any other relevant information of a similar nature. Complete lists of all Garratts built have been included, together with the builders' numbers and dates, details of locomotives sold to other railways or industrial concerns etc, and scrapping dates. This information has been updated from the original volume.
Every possible user and builder of Garratts was contacted by the author in an effort to obtain up- to-date and authentic information, although in certain cases the railway no longer exists or the builder has gone out of business, as have Beyer Peacock themselves. Of the remainder, many replied, some did not, particularly and predictably including most of the South American railways, while of the manufacturers, one firm of over a century's standing, has been so brainwashed by the glamour of its new diesels and electrics as to deny not only that it had built Garratts but that it had built any steam locomotives whatever! Even a photostat of its prewar advertisement failed to produce any positive response!
Some mention has been made of various personalities relevant to the Garratt story, although this aspect has not been dwelt upon. Apart from H. W. Garratt himself, W. Cyril Williams, who was employed upon the South African Railways, probably had the greatest influence in promoting the Garratt. Connected with the trials of the initial SAR engine, he became enthused with the concept and joined Beyer Peacock as technical sales representative, subsequently travelling the world selling Garratts, and presenting a number of papers, to which reference is made in the Bibliography.
In the twelve years which have elapsed since the publication of the first edition of The Garratt Locomotive developments have mainly been negative, with Garratts disappearing completely from regular service in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, today being found only in Africa, as forecast in that book. Although based on the earlier work this present volume is much more than just a new edition and warrants a new title. The text has been completely revised and totally re-written where necessary, to incorporate further information, and to update the position as far as is known, to the end of 1980.
Even in Africa, the Garratt has become a severely endangered species, having ceased operation in East Africa and the various West African states which were once users. Giant South African Railways has only a third of its former Garratt roster in stock, many of those remaining being out of use, while in Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia, the decline of these country's economies has been equalled by their railway systems, whose installations, including Garratts, have been neglected to the point of dereliction.
Fortunately, all is not gloom. In South Africa, while SAR responds to the oil crisis by ordering more diesels, industrial users have taken up the government's call to save oil by buying up steam locomotives from SAR, several of which are Garratts, in a general move to reverse previous dieselisation policies. The most heartening situation exists in Zimbabwe, where the former dieselisation policy has been totally reversed to include both electrification plus the very extensive rehabilitation of nearly a hundred Garratts for further use into the 1990s.
Furthermore, the ever escalating oil crisis has prompted several investigations and studies into the viability of modern coal-burning steam power; whereas in 1968 it could comfortably be written that the last Garratts had just been built, 1980 sees the position where sophisticated Garratts, with compound expansion, condensors, and advanced combustion cycles, are on more than one drawing board. It is impossible, of course, to predict the future in these turbulent times, where the oil crisis has been misrepresented as an 'energy crisis' (although no other forms of energy are endangered), but it is fairly safe to assume that the old Garratt rhythm, the stuttering, unsynchronised, exhaust from independent engine units, will be stilled by the year 2000. Modern Garratts, if built, will have exhaust beats softened by compounding and evened to a dreary whine by condensing gear.
The whole story, past, present, and possible future is produced within a book with more and larger pages than before, in order to encompass the greater amount of information and variety of illustration showing these magnificent locomotives hard at work. A colour section is an innovation, and will be appreciated particularly by the growing numbers of photographers who work in this medium.
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