5903 - from cradle to grave

by Kevin Patience

The 59 Class Garratts were without doubt, the most famous and heaviest locomotives ever built for the metre gauge railway by Beyer Peacock at its works in Manchester, England. The fleet of thirty four of these oil fired giants were delivered to the then East African Railways & Harbours during 1955/1956. All were named after the highest mountains in East Africa. Although designed to haul mainly 1,100 ton freight trains in response to the ever increasing industrial needs of Kenya and Uganda, they were also used extensively on the passenger trains from the coast to Nairobi until the mid 1960s, when they were replaced by diesel power. They were restricted by their weight of 252 tons as far as Nakuru up to which point the track had been especially strengthened. From there through to Uganda, the lighter 57, 58 and 60 Class Garratts took on the passenger and freight services. In the early 1960s they were fitted with Giesl ejectors which improved their hauling capacity to 1,250 tons. 5903 was one that was photographed on a number of occasions as the illustrations which follow show.