Atomic Systems

Garratts are much under discussion these days, especially those on the Welsh Highland railway.
Do any of you remember the LMS Garratts of which there were 33 in service? They were a regular feature on the Derby- Birmingham main line past my home in the 1930-40s hauling long trains of loaded or unloaded coal wagons from or to the Toton sidings. Most of the route was pretty flat and they were rarely stressed, plodding along with numerous stops in passing loops to allow passenger trains to overtake them. I rarely heard much of an exhaust beat, but they could usually be heard making the characteristic knocking coming from worn bearings in the motion. They were in service for nearly 30 years but all were scrapped by 1958.

A type of locomotive i unfortunately never saw. Being in the North West it was all Black 5's. I'd have loved to see them in action but why were they ever made? Nottinghamshire dosn't seem like classic Garrett terrain to me

I love them and I wish Bachmann would make it as I am sure most of us would agree it would be a interesting thing to have on a model railway. We shall be needing 5th radius curves for this! . I always thought of it going slowly round the model railway, with all my wagons and the front catching up with the back!

“Fowler Locmotives” by Brain Haresnape gives a fairly full account of how the LMS Garratts happened. Very briefly, Hughes had started the process of finding some suitable replacements for the double heading of Toton to Brent coal trains by various pairs of 0-6-0 locos. He favoured either a 2-8-2 or some Garratt type. Discussions in 1922-1924 resulted in a Beyer Peacock proposal for a 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt , whilst Horwich started to design a 4 cylinder 2-8-2 loco, later altered to a 3 cylinder design.
Apparently there were problems on the route both with dimensions and axle loadings. They even tried Big Bertha, the Midland railway Lickey banker on the route with no apparent outcome.
When Fowler took over, he stopped work on the Horwich design and asked for it to be altered to a compound loco. But Horwich was not favoured by the new Derby biased LMS management and Derby took over. It turned out that Derby had quite independently also been talking to Beyer Peacock and come up with its own ideas. Possibly with some thoughts of standardisation in mind, they wanted, and got, a loco which was more or less a Beyer Peacock boiler and frame sitting on two LMS chassis, more or less those of the Midland designed Somerset and Dorset 2-8-0s. The chassis continued the use of short stroke valves and inadequate bearings that had dogged later Midland and LMS locos for years. It was bearing wear which caused the clanking I associate with the LMS Garratts
The Garratts used no less fuel than the two locos they displaced but saved on an additional driver and fireman. Though the cabs were reasonably comfortable they were not popular with firemen who had to shovel twice the amount of coal into the firebox!

My great regret is that somehow I avoided seeing one !

Still, now that stoopid apple green thing is out of the way, maybe this could be a great project (but roll on 82045 and Betton Grange in the meanwhile!)



Yeah Tony, I remember 'clanks' - wonderful sound.

I'm taking my pannier to have sound fitted at Warley but I bet it won't have a clank.

But then, GWR/BR(W) didn't clank did they? Far too well built !