Beyer-Garratt Steam Locomotives in Australia

Class M (Locobase 535)

Data from Wiener (1930); corrected and supplemented by Gavin Hamilton's excellent compilation of Garratt data posted at [] (6 September 2005); and A[rthur] E[dward] Durrant, Garratt Locomotives of the World (revised edition) (Newton Abbott, UK: David & Charles, 1981), pp 67-68,. Works numbers were 5477-5482

Durrant noted several "firsts" in the history of Garratt-type locomotive owned by this class. These six Double Mogul Garratts were the first to be of "a main-line natu re", the first to be ordered in series quantity, and only the third Garratt design to be produced, and, later, the first Garratt design to be produced in the Southern Hemisphere. A more technical first occurred when Beyer-Peacock produced long connecting rods to drive on the third axle, "instituting," Garratt wrote,"a standard infrequently strayed from [by the builder]."

Wiener noted that the line had severe gradients of up to 4 1/2 percent and line curvatures of as little as 328 ft (100 m). Ms mostly ran on branch lines of southwestern WA, which meant rural and forest settings. Like most Garratts, the M class used Belpaire fireboxes, and short-lap Z-ported piston valves.

Only one M-class Garratt received a superheater and joined the Ms class described in Locobase 536. The five other M Garratts remained in service well into the century.

Class Ms (Locobase 536)

Data from Gavin Hamilton's excellent compilation of Garratt data posted at [] (6 September 2005); and "Western Australia Railway, Design No. 0557", Beyer-Garrrat Patent Articulated Locomotives (Manchester, England: Beyer-Peacock & Company Limited, 1931), archived on flickr's Historical Railway Images at [], et seq, p. 34.. See also "Pioneering in Nyasaland" archived at Mike's Railway History, last accessed 3 January 2015. Works numbers were 5665-5671 in 1913.

Superheated version of class M (Locobase 556). Follow-on to first Western Australia Double Mogul Garratts, these being fitted with superheaters. Small, closely space drivers in each engine unit with the typical short, thick boiler heated by a Belpaire firebox.

Class Msa (Locobase 6847)

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

(6 September 2005); and "File:Western Australian Government Railways class Msa Garratt articulated steam locomotive -- elevation and plan drawing.jpg" in Wikimedia commons at [], last accessed 21 March 2025. See also Bobbie Oliver, The Locomotive Enginemen: A History of the West Australian Locomotive Engine Driversñ, Firemenñs and Cleaners' Union (Black Swan Press, 2016), no page numbers;

Obviously based on the pre-World War I Ms class supplied by Beyer, Peacock (Locobase 536), this set of Double Mogul Garratts came from the WAGR's own shops as works #46-55. In her study of the union, Oliver provides several details about the Msa design. "Record" wheat harvests prompted the WAGR to bolster its hauling power. Instead of going back to Beyer Peacock in England, Fred Mills, Chief Draftsman (later Chief Mechanical Engineer) at the Midland Workshops modified the Ms design and turned out these somewhat heavier engines.

The grate size grew while the boiler was unchanged. The class was rated to haul 302 tons up a 1 in 45 (2.2%) grade. Claiming the distinction of being the first locomotives manufactured entirely in Western Australia, the class used cast steel frames supplied by Hadfields from their Bassendean foundry. They were the most powerful locomotives in Western Australia. As they required "large amounts of coal and water", the union was able to negotiate an extra half-hour of preparation time before the engines left the shed.

Within 20 years after the Msa introduction, the WAGR began retiring them in 1947 and closed out the class in 1955.