Vivian & Sons Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 10 (Locobase 641)

Data from "Garratt Locomotive for the Hafod Copper Works", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 32 (15 March 1924), pp.74-77; "The First Garratt Locomotive in Great Britain", Locobase files. "Industrial Railways-Important Private Lines in Great Britain", 6 September 1935 at []"; and "British Copper Manufacturers-Design 02353", Beyer-Garrrat Patent Articulated Locomotives (Manchester, England: Beyer-Peacock & Company Limited, 1931), archived on flickr's Historical Railway Images at [], et seq, p. 57. (Thanks to Huw Llewellyn for his 9 January 2023 email noting the 10 was the first standard-gauge Garratt in England and commenting on the three others built to the same design. Works number was 6172 in 1924..

Industrial Garratt with usual Belpaire firebox that was the first standard-gauge Garratt to run in the British Isles. Three more produced to this design for different owners appear in Locobase 500, 502, and 640.

Its relatively short range was indicated by the small water tank over the leading pair of drivers. RW's report described the 10 as "an immediate success; it ...has been found to do the work of two ordinary"Standard" 0-4-0 tank locomotives at a greatly decreased cost."

Managing Director Hugh Vivian's 1 January 1925 letter reported V&S managers as "entirely satisfied" with the engine. He specifically pointed to the boiler's "ease" in maintaining "a full head of steam" while achieving a 25% reduction in coal consumption compared to the two Standard tank lcomotives. Moreover, connecting two engine units with the ends of the frame caused the locomotive to ride "remarkably easily" and to show "far less tendency to spread the curves."

After its career and Vivian & Sons ended, it served British Copper and later ICI as their #23. It was scrapped in 1949.