Re: GMAM ugly????

John West Wrote:
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> I kinda like the GMAM's. I noticed on Gavin's
> website some U.S. ads for Garratts by (I think)
> Alco. It would be interesting to find in the
> historic literature a technical discussion of
> their pro's and con's relative to conventional
> articulated locos as viewed by folks in those
> days. Gavin makes the statement on his website
> that no railroad that purchased Garratts ever
> subsequently purchased another "conventional"
> articulated loco. I'm not a technical person, but
> it did seem to me when I was watching them
> recently in South Africa that the Garratts seemed
> a bit slippery. The SAR Garratts also seemed to
> have relatively large diameter drivers for
> mountain service. But again, I'm not a technical
> guy. Simply very interesting (and in my opinion
> handsome) locos in my book.
>
> John

John,

Yes the adverts are by Alco but I've yet to see any detailed documents.

One of the problems I can see with the GMAM class is that it was a compromise, to be capable of running both passenger and freight trains - the result being that it wasn't ideal for either task. As there were a large number built they had to be made to work. Their popularity is probably because of the number surviving to a very late date.

When it comes to looks my favourite Garratt has to be the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe 15th class, followed equally by the East African 59 class, the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe 20th and the New South Wales AD60. Can't explain why though.

Gavin

Linslade
Bedfordshire
UK

Garratt Locomotives
[www.beyergarrattlocos.co.uk]