Railway Pics - Locos, Rolling Stock, Buildings, Etc!

[Kevin WS]

Here is a shot of a loco I found abandoned in the bush in a remote area, but already showing signs of stripping - railway lines in the area had been stolen which probably led to its further isolation.

On a later visit there was only part of the loco frame left, with most of the carriage also have been stripped off as well, including the wooden frame.

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Here is a shot of a loco I found abandoned in the bush in a remote area, but already showing signs of stripping - railway lines in the area had been stolen which probably led to its further isolation.

On a later visit there was only part of the loco frame left, with most of the carriage also have been stripped off as well, including the wooden frame.

Looking at the driving wheel arrangement on that ... is (was) it a Beyer Garrett?

[Kevin WS]

Well spotted John - it was indeed. I was sad to see it in that state.

It's a 2-6-2+2-6-2, but I am not sure which one. Dates from the 1920's, so it was around 80 years old when I took the picture.

I have always had a very soft spot for the Garratt's ever since I was small boy in Kenya and used to go on holiday behind a Mountain Class Garratt - one of the largest locos of its type. Used to go and travel on the footplate at night - I would climb out of the carriage at a water stop and run down to the loco where they would lift me up. Always a panic as I would worry they would leave before I reached the engine. Later, they would lift me down at another water stop and run back to the carriage with me so they could lift me back in - I was too small to climb up!

[JohnM]

Way, way back, when the Mau-Mau rebellion was rife, one of my Uncles was an 'Overseer' maintaining the Rhodesia,Tanganyika, Kenya rail roads. He and his family (Wife and two kids) lived in a three carriage 'Bungalow' which had it's own huge Beyer-Garrett to haul it around. Of course more often than not there where another twenty or so workshop and stores wagons hitched on behind, but Sidney flatly refused to let the B-G to ever be unhitched from his 'Bungalow'. The ability to move on at short notice was very necessary at times, and it was indeed their life-saver when their rapid evacuation from Kenya came about.

[Kevin WS]

John. Interesting! That would been in the East African Railways and Harbours days when the countries were Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda. Uganda he probably went to often as well, especially as the main East African Line was built between Mombasa and Kampala.

In Rhodesia he would have had a different train - the gauge is different by 3" from East Africa and they never shared locos as a result. While some wagons do have their wheel sets changed to facilitate cross border moves this was never done with steam locos.

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

While some wagons do have their wheel sets changed to facilitate cross border moves this was never done with steam locos.

Even if it were possible, I guess changing all the wheels on a BG would have been a pretty daunting task, methinks.

Unfortunately Uncle Sid didn't bring home any photos. As he said ... they were lucky to bring home their skins. Their Volvo estate was hoisted aboard a German freighter at Mombasa with them still inside it. Seems he was considered to be a 'Good Boss Man' and a hundred of his crew escorted them safely to the ship.

[Kevin WS]

John - here's a bigger Garratt for you - a South African 4-8-2+2-8-4.

I took this shot a couple of years ago in a Transnet depot - a sort of farewell shot before it was cut up as scrap (along with the coal stage behind it).

[JohnM]

A bit of a come down from it's glory days, eh Kev?

Here's a picture of one in it's prime to make up ... gorgeous!



Cool ... I just noticed it's in East African Railways livery. I wonder if it's Uncle Sid's?

Can you imagine having one of these of your own ... just to pull your caravan?

[Kevin WS]

That's the Mountain Class I referred to!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAR_59_class

Garratt Locomotives

[JohnM]

Yes, of course there's a paper model ... but this one might be a bit hard to find ...



Hmmm! Kevin's got quite a stash of MicroModels ... now I wonder?