South Australian Railways Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Australia

Class 400 (Locobase 541)

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

(6 September 2005). Later communication (22 June 2009) from Damien Garton pointed Locobase to the Zig Zag Railway's site [], which confirmed that some of the original data was incorrect. Driver diameter was originally shown as 51", cylinder dimensions as 16" x 26", boiler pressure as 204.5 psi. See also the Australian National Rail Museum's exhibit description at [] and Johnny's Railway history bits at []

Double Mountain Garratts supplied under subcontract from Beyer, Peacock. BP work numbers 7622-7631; Franco-Belge work numbers 2973-2982. The class was identical to the East African Railways 60th class shown in Locobase 692. According to the museum "These arrived in 1953, and by 1955 had taken over most of the working of the Broken Hill line. Identical in main specifications to the world-famous 60th class of the East African Railways, the 400's were oil-burners, but with provision for the installation of a mechanical stoker if converted to burn coal. They were also designed to be easily converted for service on either the broad or standard gauge if required. Unfortunately, these magnificent engines came too late, for less than ten years after they were fully in service the diesel appeared on the scene and in 1963 they were all placed in storage at Peterborough. Here they were to remain until 1969 when a few of them were returned to service while the diesels were being converted ready for service on the new standard gauge line.