With several discussion threads going on; specifically one about The Erie Railroads Triplex "Matt Shay" as well as comments about the other triplex locomotives of the Virginian RR. The subject of the Beyer-Garratt Locomotives came to mind as a' different' style of application of multiple uses of steam in one locomotive frame.
I am not sure if any of these locomotives made it to operate in North America or even middle or South America.
Link to Wikipedia page on them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garratt
Googling also brings up many other sites as well. It would be kind of interesting to see what some on this forum think of them?
Garratt locomotives were used in South America, definitely in Brazil, not sure about other countries. I would hardly consider a Garratt to be a single frame locomotive, consider that the boiler and cab were mounted on a frame that was supported at the ends by hinge points over each of the engine frames. One engine frame supported the water tank, the other engine frame supported the coal bunker. While there were some compound Garratts, the overwhelming majority of Garratt locomotives were simple.
'Beyer-Garratt' was a brand name referring to Garratt locomotives built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. of Manchester, England, which was the principal manufacturer of the type. The advantages of the type were that you got a large locomotive which could operate around relatively sharp curves and over light track. These attributes made Garratts especially popular in British colonies and British-owned railways in South America etc., where lightly laid and/or narrow-gauge lines were the norm. They were very uncommon in Britain itself and elsewhere in Europe, and I'm not aware of there having been any in North America.
I suppose that those attributes would have been useful for certain US roads in the early days when lines were being built as quickly and cheaply as possible, but the first large Garratts weren't built until just before WW1, by which time the major lines had been upgraded to cope with very large conventional locomotives and still larger Mallets. Therefore, why resort to a tank engine?
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Kootenay CentralThere is a photo out there of a Scottish?? tank engine WITH a tender behind, and the caption below says something to the effect that on a certain branch, water was carried ONLY in the tender to keep locomotive weight down on an elderly bridge from the Victorian era.
That would possibly be the Lauder Light Railway in the Scottish Borders, which was worked from 1944-56 by a pair of 0-6-0T locomotives coupled to old tenders in order to keep axle loadings to an absolute minimum. ('Light Railways' in this context were lines built to a relaxed set of standards set out in the Light Railways Act 1896, which specified amongst other things a maximum axle loading of 12 tons). The locomotives were not actually Scottish but were exiles from eastern England - the old Great Eastern Railway had lots of lightweight engines and after merger into the LNER some of these found their way to other parts of the system for specific duties requiring low axle loadings. There is a picture of the two locomotives at Galashiels shed half way down this page: http://www.lner.info/locos/J/j67j69.shtml . For the last two years of the Lauder branch (until 1958) lightweight Moguls were used.
There may have been other British rural branch lines worked the same way, but that is the only one I know of. It was, however, quite common for very small 0-4-0T engines to be coupled to little wooden tenders to increase their miniscule bunker capacity. Eg: http://www.lner.info/locos/Y/y9.shtml
The same website also has a picture of the largest of the relatively small number of Garratts used in Britain: http://www.lner.info/locos/U/u1.shtml
Garratts were used in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America. One Garrett (a 2-ft gauge 2-6-2+2-6-2) was purchesed by a wealthyTexan in 1985 and operated, with authenic South African rolling stock,on his Hempstead and Northern Railroad located on his property near Houston.
Cast steel beds for some Garretts were manufactured in the USA and shipped to Britian and Europe where the Garretts were assembled..
At one time ALCO considered building Garretts for the US market.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Alco actually had a license agreement with Beyer-Peacock to build Garratt locomotives in the US, but never convinced any railroad to buy one. At the time, tractive effort was KING - and anything that would reduce it (Like burning off the fuel and boiling off the water) was a deal-breaker in the eyes of American motive power buyers.
On one of the sub-topics that seem to have attached themselves to this thread, Wabash kept a couple of ancient 2-6-0s employed on a branch with one weak bridge until long after the rest of its steam had gone to the scrappers. They finally strengthened the bridge, and replaced both moguls with one GP-7.
On the other sub-topic - I have a photo of an Imperial Government Railways 4020 class 0-8-0T (Baldwin 189?) pulling a four-wheel 'canteen' about the size of an apartment house dumpster. The side tank capacity was rather small, so a little extra water meant it could operate to the end of a branch and back without running dry. (The 4020, not identified as such and not described as a 1:80 scale model of a 42 inch gauge 'used in Japan' prototype, was imported by Max Grey in the early 1970s.)
Chuck
The Garratt, one has to admit is a unique solution, to the probems of a need for light but effective power on lightly built lines with a density of goods and passengers to move. I'd ove to see a Garratt working along side an American built locomotive.
Here is a link to a You Tube of an Austrailian Garratt " Ebenezer" with a sizable train of passenger cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPNSWBGTffk
Lionel Weiner pointed out in "Articulated Locomotives" that the tractive effort and adhesion factors of Garratt locomotives were calculated based on empty water tanks and coal bunkers, a situation never actually acheived in practice. Another advantage of the Garratt was that its boiler could be shorter and fatter, which translated to a greater number of shorter flues, which improved steaming capacity.
DSchmitt Garratts were used in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America. One Garrett (a 2-ft gauge 2-6-2+2-6-2) was purchesed by a wealthyTexan in 1985 and operated, with authenic South African rolling stock,on his Hempstead and Northern Railroad located on his property near Houston. Cast steel beds for some Garretts were manufactured in the USA and shipped to Britian and Europe where the Garretts were assembled.. At one time ALCO considered building Garretts for the US market.
(EDIT: to Add info)
Try Googling:~~ Hempsteard and Northern Railroad ~~ There are about four links that come up. Interestingly, the Beyer-Garret locomotive mentioned is a South African Railway's 2-6-2+2-6-2 along with rolling stock on a ranch(maybe, estste?) in Texas.
There is a little more on the SAR locos under the link : http://www.thetwofooters.com/issue013.htm under the link name Descanso,Alpine and Pacific.
The above link mentions a Bob Bucker as the owner of the H&NRR at hempstead,Tx.
This comment really jumped out when I was reading the comment. So I went searching for it:
Here's the link: http://www.sa-transport.co.za/trains/narrow-gauge/ng_info_pictures/ngg13-50_texas_th.JPG
The idea of a D&RGW 4-8-2+2-8-4 is an intiguing "What if"...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
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