| Big steam was rare in Australasia, even on the standard and broad gauge systems. The strength of track and bridges was the main constraint, but short crossing loops and trucks with screw or chopper coupling limited the length and weight of trains. On selected routes a few locomotives over 220 tons were permitted. The VR had four such, the SAR had 10, but the NSWGR had 80! These were the ponderous 57 and 58 class Mountains, and the 42 magnificent 60 class Garratts. The Mountains barely made it to 1961, but the still new Garratts were active right through the decade, a few surviving into the Seventies. The NSWGR kept their best to the end!
But if NSW had the greatest, it also had the smallest. Rails lighter than 60lb per yard were rare on the broad gauge VR and SAR systems, but NSW had lines laid to “pioneer” standard, and some very steeply graded branches. The little engines of the Nineteenth Century were ideal for these jobs, and so they survived well into the Sixties. In the yard at Port Waratah, ninety year old Stephenson long-boiler 0-6-0’s built by Beyer Peacock could be seen side by side with 15 year old Garratts built by the same company; the heaviest locomotives ever operated in Australasia, and probably the heaviest ever built in Britain. What a contrast! |
Beware Doubt and Torpor |
Here Comes A Pull-Out |
The Interruption |
You Trucks Better Behave! |
Sublime and Ridiculous |
Was That A Detonator? |
The Big Boogie Woogie Beat |
The Elusive 13 |
Memories of the First Age |
Little Chook |
Hen's Teeth |
Express Mail Pick Up |
Long Pedigree |
After the Climb |
The American Legacy |
Push! |
The Cab Suits |
Slow Mixed |
Over Engineered |
Quick Top Up |
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© 1998-2009 Michael Venn - All copyrights rest with the Author [ descript.ion | Index ] |