Garratt Picture,etc

This fine weather in Ohio for past two days reminds me of what I used to call "Colorado weather" or "South Africa weather". Cold morning with a little frost, and warms to 60-70, with lots of sun. Difference in South Africa would be no afternoon clouds in June-July, versus PM clouds in Colorado.
Further to Garratt discussion below is the url on my website for a GMAM Garratt I mentioned. A couple of things here for the inquisitive. There was a point in the early 70's where the SAR as normal practice had all Garratts running in a position that would be considered backwards, with the coal bunker first. With a Garratt it really didn't matter that much. The reason was the crew complaining about smoke, and this shot would illustrate the point, having just exited a tunnel on the climb from the Indian Ocean from George on Montague Pass. Also Garratts tended to use water cars more frequently, and I suspect the direct water line was back by the water bunker, so having them together made good sense. Also note no head-end baggage on this train. The reason is that all head-end in South Africa was rear-end. There would usually be a car or two on the rear for baggage and parcels.
One neat train we got on the De Aar-Kimberly line which was always 4-8-4 hauled was a late afternoon parcels train. This train would be non-stop, and would be nothing but baggage cars. Really neat to see as late as 1984!
I regret not seeing the narrow gauge (2 foot) Garratts in SA, but we had our hands full getting stuff that would be gone soon as it was. By the way, we had 1 cloudy day out of 28, and that day was George-Knysna which figures since it was coastal. Tough when all your shots have good light,eh!
Steamingly,
Greg Scholl