Re: Beyer Garratts

As you guys seem interested I thought you might like to hear about the first ever Garrett, K1, built for a 2' gauge railway in Tasmania.
She has been in the UK now for may years and is owned by the Ffestiniog Railway Society. In 1997 she was taken from display in the York Railway museum and has been undergoing a slow rebuild at various locations to become the flagship of the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway being rebuilt by the Festiniog and friends (were they are using some of the 2' NGG16s from SA). I was at Boston Lodge (Festiniog Railway workshops) in August and saw the current progress. The engine units are back on there wheels and the cabsides and back have been trial fitted and partly painted (black). The Bolier/cab frame had been fitted between the front and back units and some of the pipe work was fitted. The completely new boiler is still being built in Bradford and is due for delivery in the 1st half of 2001 when the final assembly and testing will take place before she enters traffic. The condition is that she is full operational on the WHR by next year as she is partly funded by the millenium Lottery money.
I look forward to hearing and seeing this Compound Garrett working very soon. More (including pics) can be found on WHR site reachable via the UK Heritage railway web site at www.ukhrail.uel.ac.uk