Westside had a garratt with K27 boiler and two K27 running gears. Would a K36 boiler have been better or would the boiler off a C48 have better. What parts off of other locomotives could have used to give the D&RGW better locomotives. Gary
I doubt that a K27 boiler would have been able to supply sufficient steam to two sets of K 27 running gear. For that, the boiler would have to be much bigger and certainly not hand-fired any longer. Even in a Beyer Garratt configuration, such a loco would have been quite heavy - to heavy for the rather flimsy rail of a narrow gauge line in the Colorado Rockies.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Just so everyone is aware that this thread is referencing a freelanced locomotive. This image of the loco being referenced I found makes that pretty clear (the freelanced series lettering):
I also found a past thread on this forum about this concept:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/250646.aspx
It really gives a lot of information about why there weren’t garratts in the US.
Still, it is a very fun concept, and I is a cool model! And it does have a Rio Grande look!
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
You need to have more than just a pair of hands to fire this engine to get enough steam into the cylinders from that Mickey Mouse boiler! Even if we talk about a freelance engine, it should at least be plausible.
Tinplate Toddler You need to have more than just a pair of hands to fire this engine to get enough steam into the cylinders from that Mickey Mouse boiler! Even if we talk about a freelance engine, it should at least be plausible.
Not really. The problem with the K-27's was the long and narrow fire box. That made it difficult to get a good fire at the front of it.
The result was a loss of steam.
The freelance Garratt was oil fired, so it solves the steam issue.
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
That boiler looks to be between 12 and 14 feet long....hot. It wouldn't have a hope of servicing four large cylinders with any working pressure, not for long, and not even if two pairs of hands were shoveling like mad. If you look at the 'real' Beyer-Garratt, it has a substantial boiler, something close to twice the capacity of the engine depicted.
However, I guess this locomotive actually existed? I wonder how well it worked for the road's purposes. It couldn't have worked all that well providing steam in a narrow range of pressure for long because the boiler would have needed a constant inflow of cold water to keep steam up...which is counter-productive. The cold injection would cool water in the boiler and impede evaporation. In a much larger boiler, with the commensurately sized firebox, such injection would not have been so problematic.
GraffenThe freelance Garratt was oil fired, so it solves the steam issue
Each boiler can produce only a certain amount of steam in a given time, regardless of what method of firing is used.
Tinplate Toddler Graffen The freelance Garratt was oil fired, so it solves the steam issue Each boiler can produce only a certain amount of steam in a given time, regardless of what method of firing is used.
Graffen The freelance Garratt was oil fired, so it solves the steam issue
The best example I know of is the East African Railways 59 class, which, despite being a meter gauge engine, was capable of producing 83,000 lbs of tractive effort.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9judxRz41_k
That is a huge boiler on that engine.
Andre
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Strange looking beasts! I guess they served their purpose as Bear explained.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter Strange looking beasts! I guess they served their purpose as Bear explained. Dave
They certainly still do!
The Welsh Highland Rlwy., connecting Porth Madog in Gwynned County in the heart of Snowdonia in Wales, with the medieval town of Caernarfon, traditionally the site of the crowning of HRH The Prince of Wales successfully employes a number of Beyer-Garratts on their rather mountaineous narrow gauge line.
Photographed in August 2006 on my 50th birthday.
Note how large the boiler is for this rather little 2ft. engine! Garratts are single expansion engines and not compounds, therefore they need quite a lot of steam!
Tinplate ToddlerThey certainly still do! The Welsh Highland Rlwy., connecting Porth Madog in Gwynned County in the heart of Snowdonia in Wales, with the medieval town of Caernarfon, traditionally the site of the crowning of HRH The Prince of Wales successfully employes a number of Beyer-Garratts on their rather mountaineous narrow gauge line.
Beautiful engines, and obviously well maintained! I can't get that much of a shine on my bald head!!
Down in Argentina, they have a 500mm guage (~20 inch) guage that have two Beyer-Garratts, Porta and Zubieta. They are 0-4-0 +0-4-0's Zubieta was built in 2006 and Porta was built in 1994. Zubieta was built in South Africa and Porta was built solely in Argentina.
Here is a link to the railroad.
https://www.trendelfindelmundo.com.ar/es/
It was really a fun railroad to see and learn about.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Now that is a sweet-looking loco... I would see myself going to work on that thing!
Simon