Nepal Government Railway Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Nepal

Class Mahabir (Locobase 704)

Data from 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), p.61-62. See also "Garratts in Asia" on Rob Dickinson's International Steam website at [], last accessed 14 March 2023. Works number was 6736 in 1932. Beyer also delivered #6 (works number 7243) of this class of Double Prairie Garratts in 1947.

Durrant sketched the challenging profile tackled by these two engines. The line rand Birgenj (sic) in India to Simra. At that point, further climbing to Amlekhganj entailed overcoming 1 in 30 (3.3%) grades.

Dickinson reported that after that line closed, the pair went to the Janakpur Railway. "Here", he wrote,"the terrain was flat and they saw little use" before the railway converted to diesels in 1994. Still, the pair was cared for and did seem some duty as Richard Pelham's 1981 photo of the 6 and Basil Roberts's 1992 image of the 4 indicate.