Garratt for sale !

...Just wondered if everyone knows about this...? PRESTON SERVICES ~ Steam Railway Locomotives

 

Crikey - wonder which one it is .....

 

.....bargain !!

 

Should not be too hard to work out. Presumably refers one of the 1951 batch of NG/G16s, numbered 125 to 131. Of these only 130 is in the UK, stored on the Exmoor steam railway. So I'd put my money on that one - not that I have that sort of money to spare you understand!

Peter James

 

It's been advertised before, I believe. As I understand it, one of the remaininmg examples at Exmoor has a duff boiler, hope it isn't that one!

 

As far as I know the advert is for 130, Beyer Peacock 7431 of 1951, at Exmoor Steam. It's been on the Preston website since 2005, on and off.

 

Add another zero to the asking price if you want to see it in steam.

 

yes 87 cost approx £500k, is this one any worse? would it cost more to restore?

 

I wonder if it would be worth breaking it up to build two 2-6-2 tank locos?

 

Why??

 

Two 2ft gauge 2-6-2 tank locos would be very useful to say the L&BR in Devon, most of the locomotive plate work which is not scrapped such as the tanks and cab would just leave the boiler saddle/ boiler which could be more useful for the FR/WHR to have so they can rebuild a spare boiler and it could then be used on any of the current loco fleet.

Besides parts of it would get used and not just sit in a farm yard rotting away and as has already been said beside the WHR, where else could you run a Garratt???

 

Interesting idea, but I wonder how suitable the frames would be as the basis for independent locomotives? I'm no steam engineer but I have a sneaking suspicion that by the time one had finished modifying the frames to make them suitable one would have been better off starting from scratch.

 

You'd be more than welcome, Ralph. Incidentally, we looked at converting NG/G16 power bogies into 2-6-2 tank locos some years ago. I'll ask those in the know what their conclusions were. IIRC, the plan was dropped due to the limited clearances on the FR, but I could be completely wrong.

 

I guess it may also be possible to make something like an 0-6-2 or similar from the bits too, creating space for a conventional ashpan etc.

Looking at the images following a Google search the bogie frames look quite robust. It would certainly make an interesting project. Perhaps one of the bogies may be suitable for Mr Evans "Fairatt" loco too???

It would be very interesting to hear the views of the FR "brains dept" when you have them Andrew. Given the vast number of items produced at the lodge over the years, I can imagine that a good few ideas were discussed!

All the best,

Rich.

 

A very interesting idea Colin, a Garratt bogie could make a very capable locomotive. I notice that the cylinder and driving wheel dimensions are not too far off a Lynton & Barnstable Manning Wardle, so the potential is there to make a useful machine. There has been a precedent for such a conversion, I believe a class of New Zealand Garratts were rebuilt into "straight" locos and performed adequately after rebuilding.

Of course, there will be engineering issues with the frames, there is no such thing as a perfect fit with any rebuild, but you have to start somewhere. I'm sure it would be worthwhile following up on Andrew's lead with the FR investigations into such a rebuild.

If there is mileage in this, I believe that it could be less expensive to recover something from South Africa before they all finally disappear.

Cheers

Alan

 

The bogies are outside frames, the cylinders are quite large, and sit on the outside of the frames, so the bogie isnt that much narrower than a standard guage loco. There can't be many railways with a loading guage suitable for a such a loco

 

I wonder if you could make a single fairlie with an unaltered Garratt bogie, that would enable the bogies to be used more continually and effectively by the WHR whilst Garratt boilers were under overhaul, and provide good strong locos for the off-season. I'm thinking something Moel Tryfan-ish.

 

You would probably need to make so many changes to the frames that you might as well build new ones and use the wheels, cylinders, motion and pony trucks off the old one. The thing is though what would be the point? An NGG 16 is big and imposing but it is more like an industrial saddle tank than a Duchess. Just have a chat with the fitters at Dinas and they'll tell you what 'great' engines they are. On top of that is has been dragged backwards and forwards across the desert until it falls apart. Then bodged back together and the process repeated. They make 4472 look like it's had lots of careful owners.

Why make an engine out of a load of clapped out old scrap with a whole host of design flaws when you can make a brand new one that is fit for purpose? I bet it would cost less in the long run.

As for 130. Well seeing as 87 and 109 were considered the best of a bad lot, and 87 had a substantial 6 figure sum spent on it. This included total replacement of the backhead and a large section of the barrel, all new fittings, most of the body work apart from the front tank, the list goes on.....It was no mean feat for Boston Lodge that's for sure. Oh and 87 had derailed and ended up on its side during its life so was somewhat bent. 130 doesn't seem like quite such a bargain really.

 

What surprises me is that the beautiful SG Beckton Gas Works No. 1 is on sale from the same vendors for £10000 less than the Garratt, and is probably in far better condition, yet still hasn't found a buyer. OK, it would be a little small for passenger trains but could be good for brakevan rides or similar at one of the smaller steam centres?