This page illustrates examples of articulated steam
locomotives - click here for the introduction to
Garratt locomotives.
Despite many mountain railways, many of which had strong
British connections, the railways never ordered Garratts in quantity.
Argentina
Some 50 metre and broad gauge Garratts were supplied to
various companies in this country, but all had vanished by 1970,
although one was reported to be rusting away in Paraguay in 1977.
However, when a new 500mm gauge tourist railway was established in the
deep south of Patagonia at Ushuaia (The Train at the End of the World -
FCAF - http://www.trendelfindelmundo.com.ar)
they bought two brand new Garratts in 1994 and 2006 - see particularly http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/smcmahon/smfcaf.htm
(link dead by April 2015) for some interesting notes on these locomotives, also a page
on this site.
This is the first of these, #2 as built (left), and
barely recognisable after rebuilding in 2001/2 (right):
Not surprisingly, it bears more than a passing
resemblance to the new #5 (from Phil Girldestone's works in South
Africa):
Bolivia
The FCAB (Antofagasta (Chile) and Bolivia) bought both
Kitson Meyers (not surprisingly in South America) but also Garratts. Some of
these survive here at the famous Uyuni graveyard, also FCAB 397 4-8-2+2-8-4
outside Potosi shed, where it was photographed by John Middleton in 2009:
Brazil
Small numbers were supplied to broad, metre and narrow
gauge but the design never caught on here. This is Hose Beraldo's
picture of metre gauge Henschel & Sohn 4-8-2+2-8-4, #612, preserved at the small railway
museum at the Recife (PE) central station. It was supplied to the Great Western of Brazil
Railway in 1952, which latterly becomes Rede Ferroviaria do Nordeste and was taken over by
RFFSA. I believe it is the only surviving Garratt in the country.
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