Darjeeling Himalaya Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in India

Class D (Locobase 684)

Data from Gavin Hamilton -- []; and A[rthur] E[dward] Durrant, Garratt Locomotives of the World (revised edition) (Newton Abbott, UK: David & Charles, 1981), p.47. See also The Locomotive, Volume XVII [17] (15 April 1911), p. 85. Works number was 5407 in 1910.

The LM report commented that the Garratt layout was "well adapted" to handle the Darjeeling profile. The sharp reverse curves would entail superelevation that often put the two power bogies on different planes. The report added that in addition to the 720 US gallons in the two end tanks, a underframe tank held another 200 US gallons.

According to Gavin Hamilton, this was not an entirely successful ocomotive. Durrant offered several speculations as to why. A key reason could have been some weak elements in the design Other factors could have included lack of sufficient traffic requiiring tis use as well as short sidings and weak couplers. Nevertheless, it operated on the DHR until 1953.