Australian Portland Cement Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Australia

Class 1 (Locobase 532)

Data from Gavin Hamilton's excellent compilation of Garratt data posted at []

(6 September 2005). See also the detailed account "Fyansford No.2 - Beyer-Garratt built to WAGR Ms-class design" on [], last accessed 11 October 2018; and Richard Horne, "Fyansford Cement Works Railway recalled in photographs", Light Railways No 222 (December 2011), pp. 3-10; and

"Home + Line Guides + Fyansford Line") on Rail Geelong, ("hopefully everything thing you ever wanted to know about the history of the railways of Geelong and District, and then some", at [], last accessed 11 October 2018. Works numbers were 6794 in 1936 and 6935 in 1939.

These two Double Mogul Garratts were based on the 1912 Western Australia Ms class Garratt locomotives shown in Locobase 536. Boiler pressure increased by 20 psi (1.38 bar) and a "more modern" superheater. Like virtually all Beyer Garratts, the pair used live steam in all four cylinders and burned coal in a Belpaire firebox.

Their role was to haul the wagons from the limestone quarry 5.6 km (3.5 mi) to the cement processing plant at Fyansford. Although short, the line was demanding with a 1 in 25 (4%) grade encountered on the old quarry leg and 1 in 37 (2.7%) on the new quarry section. This latter portion featured the longest tunnel in Victoria at 4,376 ft (1.3 km).

Loaded Garratts hauled their wagons uphill cab first to place the smoke behind the crew and coasted back down to the quarries. A typical train consisted of six wagons

When the rail line was shut down in 1966 in favor of a conveyor system, one of the engines was preserved. But, says the australiansteam account, the locomotive kept under a roof at Puffing Billy Museum was an assembly of the No 2 (named Fyansford), boiler and the No 1's engine units. (No 1's boiler went to serve the G42, a Victorian Railways Garratt that was likewise based on the WAGR's Ms.)