My name is
John (Johnny) Masson born 9th May 1941 at Stepney in Adelaide though Dad was
stationed at Goolwa where he had taken his first railway position in 1940 as a
porter. Later shifted to Naracoorte (4 years) and then Commercial road Port Adelaide as
an asm/clerk (2 years). When living at Woodville Park , it was here where I contracted Poliomyelitis
that was rife in those days, that fortunately for me only affected my shoulder area and
spent 3 months isolation in the Northfield Infectious home. That was a terrible sight to see
for many of those who had Polio really bad. For me to recuperate, Dad then shifted to Mannahill (a
dryer
climate than Adelaide) as Station Master and later SM Auburn. Most of my childhood days was living on,
or very near the railway station premises.
I left primary school after grade 7 at
Auburn then just 14 years old and went off to Adelaide on my own to board at Park
Road, Kensington and started
work as a improver Carpenter and Joiner, as my father said I needed to do a
trade as he was NOT happy at all about me having a railway career.
I always wanted to work
"hands on" with trains, one might say was in the blood. I had to bide
my time doing 4 years in the carpentry trade at Norwood Parade Kensington for T.A.Cook and Co
and left after Tom Cook the boss passed away and his brother and daughter then
put the business on the market.
Now 18 years old and National Service
was due which I was first balloted out, but I then volunteered for it and was called-up
in the very last of the old National Service intake in August 1959. I might add
this was best thing I did as was perfect for some character building. Even a short
stint in National Service should still be mandatory today, it would brighten a
few ideas up. After
finishing my three months service at Woodside camp and later at Cultana near
Port Augusta. I then started
work for Horsell
Jayman & Sons on South Road Hilton as delivery truck driver and a year later
graduated to their only crane driver. Actually enjoyed doing crane driving till I finally
turned 21. Being 21 I now I felt I was no longer subject to my father's wishes and could now do as I
preferred. Dad was still with the railways now at Bowden as a
freight and ticket clerk on Gas
works side. I then asked
him if he could get me an interview to join the Railways. Still remember his
reaction to that by saying, "Well your determined aren't you" So it was now off
to do the railway medical (cough cough) and got through that okay, so now
was a start in the South Australian Railways
on 21st May 1962. As there was no railway school going at the time, this meant in
the meantime starting out my railway career in the Adelaide Car Sheds working shift work
three shifts round the clock cleaning suburban and country carriages, while at same time each
day doing my train working papers by correspondence. Do one part that
night, then drop it in for correction next day and get the next part and so
on.
Standing
in front of the cookhouse, Woodside.
Woodside camp October
1959, very last intake.
After two months and I had
passed the basic Porter's entrance exams Porters1 and 2, and Train working part1
and part2, then passed "tickets". I was then taken out of the Suburban
Car
Sheds, put into a Porter's uniform
at the Adelaide Railway Station (Hector Goodman was my Station Master on my shift,
nice bloke too, but on other shift was "The Major" who ran everything like in
the army) as I was then qualified enough to work on the Suburban Red Hen
railcars collecting tickets. That was quite an interesting time which I
enjoyed doing. In
November 1963 the rules school caught up to me, so did last 9 weeks through the
Railways Institute school till fully qualified. Click HERE
to view the "Certificate of Competency". When I had
finally passed all the required train working examinations in January 1963 as
there were a total of 12 exams to pass with the South Australian Railways to
become fully qualified in all train working rules and duties. Three position
signaling and Westinghouse air brake I left these to the very last, as these exams
were a little harder and I did these exams through the railway school.
Working on the suburban "Redhens" ticket collecting
gave me good insight into the 3 position signalling as between collections I'd
ask the drivers to explain what each signal meant and why. So that made it a
little easier to fully understand when at the railway school. I was fully qualified by
January 1963 within 8 months of joining the S.A.R.
Once qualified, I was asked, no, I was TOLD in uncertain terms that I had to take
a country position and was given 6 country locations I could chose from. After
much deliberation I
decided to take
a transfer to Jamestown, which is 210 Kms North of Adelaide in the Mid North of
South Australia as a Station Porter. Most fellow railwaymen stated to me
back then in crib room,
"You'll be sorry, as you will work your arse off there." It turned out to
be one of the VERY BEST decision I ever made, was wonderful time there with lots of train
working and in those days I couldn't wait to start work again next day. To this day I
certainly never ever regretted that move. Also it was at Jamestown that I met my wife
Dianne now of over 44 years as of 2012.
Shifted to Jamestown in April 1963 and took up residence in the old
Station Master's residence which was attached to the Jamestown Railway station as the
Station Master, Jack Kelly (great boss) had brought his own home in the
town as he had a very large family. Also, he had planned to retire at
Jamestown which he eventually did. There was a
lot of shunting carried out with all the main line trains. Jamestown was on the
main Narrow Gauge Peterborough Division which ran from Cockburn on the S.A./
N.S.W. border, (near Broken Hill) to Peterborough (Main Depot) thence through
Jamestown and Gladstone onto Port Pirie. The main loading was the Silver, Lead, and Zinc
ore concentrates from the Broken Hill mines railed to the Port Pirie Smelters. It
was all Narrow Gauge track 3' 6". At Jamestown we worked 3 shifts around
the clock, except Sundays, though at odd times ore trains would run Sunday evenings as well.
When I first started work at Jamestown it was ALL steam trains made up of Bayer
Garratt's 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 and "T" class 4-8-0 engines, and later in 1964
along came the first of the 830 class diesel engines appeared.
I had spent my childhood around steam, now I was finally was let loose on the
ground with trains and I loved every minute of it. Jamestown was a reducing station for the
notorious Belalie North bank. Was a 1:60 grade virtually straight off the
Jamestown ashpit towards Belalie North, then down the other side 1:80 to
Yongala, then about 6 miles across flat country to Peterborough the main Depot. All
UP steam trains (that is towards Peterborough) took on water at Jamestown
and reduced excess loading for the Belalie North bank. Every second day or so an
engine and brake van (guards van or GB) would be sent down from Peterborough to
pick the excess loading, usually empty bogie ore trucks (auto couplers)
and any four wheeled Pyrites trucks for Quorn line (hook couplers). All the ore wagons
had automatic couplings fitted, and all other local NG loading all had hook type
couplings and side chains, so we had to use a very heavy auto coupling adapter, see
illustration these were real finger busters that fitted onto the hook couplings
for the automatic couplings could be coupled up to the hook loading. All hook loading was
ALWAYS marshalled behind the auto coupling loading and had a limited tonnage of
600 tons on the adapter.
Lot of shunting went on with nearly every train, and 95% of the time we were always
shunting with very long strings of wagons as the hook local loading was
always behind the automatic couplings at rear of the train next to brake van. I was at
Jamestown for seven years and the last five years the Goodwin Alco 830 class
diesels appeared, but we still had mixed Steam and Diesel right up till the line
was closed down completely on 9th January 1970 and replaced with the new Sydney -
Perth 4' 8½" standard gauge track became operational. A very sad day for
me personally, like I lost a very close family member. The S.A.R was great
railway to be with. The narrow gauge was like the icing on the cake so to
speak. Many others who worked on this NG line have told me they felt the same.
The
last 12 to 18 months 1968/69 the Bayer Garratts came back into their own as the
diesels were being taken off the narrow gauge to be used elsewhere.
I had drives of the Garratts quite a few times during those 7 years, (not
officially of course). The drivers who I knew personally and got on very
well with, when I knew they were on the down trains, that is towards Port Pirie,
when I was off duty. I would get on in the cab at Jamestown and go to the cross
at either Caltowie or Gladstone, where the Peterborough crews would change
over with the Port Pirie crews, and as soon as we would change trains and were
ready to head back to Peterborough, I would at times be fortunate to get to sit
in the driver's seat all the way back to
Jamestown (under supervision of course) as it was all basically uphill
with the engine working hard. This was, and still is, the real highlight of my life
to have one's hand on that throttle of a Beyer Garratt working its heart out. Wonderful, a never
forgotten and certainly now a once in a lifetime experience.
The very sad moment was I witnessed the final closure of the 3' 6" Narrow Gauge
track as on the
Friday 9th January
1970, when I (we all) said goodbye to the last steam train Garratt 401 and
then on the Monday
morning 12th January 1970 we started out in the big sheep/wheat paddock of the
brand new 4' 8½"
Standard Gauge Jamestown station and I stayed on in Jamestown till end of May 1970.
In meantime because with the SG there was lot less station work and train
working. Signals and switches were all now under CTC (Centralised Train
Control) everything now being automatic, no staff as that now being old
hat. I was asked to relieved at
Peterborough for few weeks while Peterborough was sorting out the Standard
Gauge
yard. Then, fearing I maybe forced to shift to Peterborough, I put in for a transfer to Mount Gambier 5' 3" Broad Gauge
as an Assistant Shunter and
started duties there on 1st June 1970 and 3 months later became a
Supervising Shunter. I'd have really preferred in preference to have gone to Port Lincoln
(Narrow Gauge) as a Shunter, but that was a
very hard place to get slotted into over there, as it was too nice a place.
Most
shunters usually went on into the guard's ranks, but I never ever wanted to be a
Guard, as I never did fancy doing those tucker box jobs and staying in barracks
away from home.
I liked being home too much with feet under the table. Anyway, while in Mount
Gambier during 1972 to 1982 I had
taken up Speedboat racing and being a guard that would have been a real party pooper to do
that. I felt though second best I had the best of both worlds. Oh yes, also was lots of fishing and surf
fishing on the local SE coast during the winter months when there was no speedboat racing. Yes it
sure was Life Good in those days.
Around
1990 the Railway (Australian National) was diminishing fast once LCL traffic was
being done away with, as then A.N. was then furiously
shedding staff like a very bad case of dandruff. A.N. started giving everyone a very
hard time to get us all out of the job by any cheap means. One blessing was that we were fortunate
that in February 1987 we had opportunity and we bought our
Railway House we were living in from off from the A.N. railways (I might add at market value too, was
definitely not
a cheap handout either) as I could well see back then, that the writing was on the
wall and that the job was going to get very iffy. It was not "IF", but, "WHEN" this will
all finally
happen. Progress was again catching up with me and this time it was heading
towards getting pushed out of the job altogether, or, take a shift to Adelaide, (Yuk
horror)
which also would NOT have had any further good job prospects for me there anyway.
So for me it
would have been like getting out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak.
In late April 1992 I finally took the voluntary redundancy package (at last
finally a decent payout) with a 12 months
free tuition at TAFE to qualify in doing a computer certificate (it was all in old
DOS if you know what that is now-a-days, now way old hat) and so was out of the
job on my own terms at least.
Turned out good thing to take on computers, though I not liked messing with them, but one
could easily see back then, it was the way things were going like it or not. Those days although
it was all in DOS
and 186 PC's (no actual Windows back then at TAFE) as later
on little did I realise that in 1999 I'd begin a start my now Johnnyspages website
rail memories which otherwise probably would never have happened, thanks to
being made redundant at near 52.
The S.E. line here was finally closed down 3 years later on
12th April 1995. The Mount Gambier rail history is another story, but nothing really
did ever match those great seven years I had on the S.A.R Narrow Gauge. That was like
loosing a close family member is only way I could describe it and did leave a
hole in one's life. Broad gauge was a slight different
baby in character, but with A.N. by the end, I not missed it anywhere remotely near like the
old Narrow Gauge.
Yes, I can still hear the Garratt's ghostly sounds of No 108 up through freight
taking a drink at the Jamestown water column at 5 or 6am on a heavy frosty still
morning at the crack of dawn. Can still see the steam rising slowly up from all around
the Garratt, its smoke drifting high into the heavens, the whining of the steam
headlight generator, watching the engineman with his oil can going around
checking the engine rods and journals. The fireman with his foot on the water column spout
filling the tender, then the crisp clang as the fireman let the tender lid drop and
then the water column spout
swing back away from the engine with some water still draining from the spout onto the
ground. Then the steam pressure building up ready to
head off. The sounding of the Garratt's whistle saying, "we are ready to go
folks" then hearing the Garratt's whistle echoing all around from off
the surrounding low lying hills that surrounds Jamestown. The Guard then poking
his head out of the GB waving
his green flag, or at times a sandwich to say, "okay to go".
Then,,,,, the hissing of steam shooting out both sides of the engine for some 100
yards each side, first at the front of engine, then the rear of the engine and
slowly the engine moves off and one then hears the empty ore wagons as the coupling
slack is taken up all the way down the train to the guards brake van. The guard waving
second right of way, then the Garratt whistling again confirming the guards flag and now the engine
starting to build up to a tremendous roar as the
Garratt unleashes her mighty power and she moved off with a roar as she
struggled proudly out the Jamestown yard up the 1 in 60 incline and round the curve
past sheep yards with black billowing smoke
going high into the sky (what a wonderful sight and sound) as she is getting stuck
into the notorious Belalie bank and after some 10 minutes or so, Then she slowly
disappears around the hill curve and then out of sight, but one can still hear her roaring....
Yes, gone, but definitely not forgotten by those who witnessed all this first hand.
That itself was a most memorable experience to be taken in everytime I saw it. I
would often get told off by odd Train Controllers because I was always about 10
to 15 minutes late booking the train out, but I always made up good excuses, so I
could just stand and savor that experience everytime. This was one of life's most pleasurable moments and
yes I got paid to stand, listen, watch, and enjoy it all, everytime.
Peterborough itself employed a lot of employees, heard it once said, there were
at one time some 700 plus employees in its hey days. My wife and I re-visited Peterborough in November
2000 and I was totally shocked as it was totally deserted of any railway employees.
Was told then that only ONE employee who does a track inspection run. How sad it
was when in 2003 was then told that there are now no rail employees at all anymore. But that's what in
today's language it is called PROGRESS............... or,,,,, is it really.
For those of us who were fortunate to serve on the South Australian Railways Peterborough Narrow
Gauge division, it was a very special way of life, now all totally gone forever into
history and now only just precious memories, rail pictures and sounds on a computer hard drive
these days.
Narrow
Gauge heading into history. (pic:
unknown) This is my
personal goodbye movie clip to the old SAR Narrow Gauge. (with damp eyes)
Jamestown these
days the only trains that stop are to shunt grain trains with a shunt movements
down into the local wheat silos opposite where the old Narrow Gauge station is,
now a Museum. The new Standard Gauge rail track bypassed Belalie North, out
around Mannanarie some 19kms north of Jamestown and the 3' 6" Narrow Gauge
track over Belalie North is now as though it had never ever existed, now only in pictures and
memories.
The old Jamestown railway station and Goods shed is all that remains at Jamestown, as
both are now just museum pieces like us oldies.
Only the standard gauge track is visible at Jamestown, that now
traverses the Australian Continent from Sydney in NSW, to Perth in WA.
One can even now also travel from Sydney to Melbourne, then to Adelaide, onto
Perth, or even to Alice Springs and onto Darwin, all on one gauge, Standard 4'
8½in. But
all said and done this will NEVER be nowhere near as great an experience as those GREAT steam narrow gauge days, a very special era in a
time now long gone by..... and I do consider myself very, very, very fortunate to have
had an opportunity to participate in just a small
part of it.
Added
info: As at 2004 the once new Jamestown standard gauge station that was built in 1969
has now been totally demolished and removed, said
because of
vandalism. Jamestown standard gauge station is now, but an open paddock with
just a siding to service the grain silos. The Goods Shed is only building left
and now used to clean road livestock trucks from local livestock sale yards.
My first
(unofficial) ENGINE DRIVE of a Bayer Garratt
Here I would like to share my very first
memorable experience of actually being allowed to sit in the driver's seat and drive one of these
Beyer Garratt engines. The first drive from Caltowie back to Jamestown
had great impact on me.... Might say in one way was the highlight of my
life......... When I came to Mount Gambier later I raced two speedboats
for 10 years very successfully, but that very first drive of a
Garratt was the absolute tops.
This particular day in Spring 1964 I went for a
cab ride on a down train No 275 hauled with Bayer Garratt
travelling from Peterborough to Port Pirie. All Peterborough and
Port Pirie crews worked trains to the cross of each other and
returned to their home stations. The Down train 275 to Port Pirie
crossed another Up train 274 to Peterborough ( remember uneven numbers for
Down trains, even numbers for Up trains) with the Garratt at Caltowie.
Caltowie was the next station on from Jamestown towards
Port Pirie only some 7 miles, but it would take about 25 minutes
to get to Caltowie, (virtually down hill) and it would take some 30mins to come from Caltowie to Jamestown.
Uphill all the way,
except for a one short down hill run at Slattery's hill, then run up into the Jamestown
yard. When we
got to Caltowie we changed over with the crew of 274 UP train
from Port Pirie, as this was the normal procedure. On the trip to Caltowie I
commented a couple of times as to what it would be like being in the driver's
seat, driving one of these mighty Bayer Garratts.
Here engine 400 hauling
train 275 entering the Passing siding at Caltowie, with Garratt 406
heading train 274 sitting on the Main line.
The train crews
including the guards would both change over trains, and return
home to their own depots.
The cross usually took place at
Caltowie or Gladstone, sometimes even at Jamestown.
After
the crew change completed train 275 was off on its way to Port Pirie,
and we were all now settled in on train 274 ready to head back to Peterborough, the crew had their 20 minutes
crib (meal break) and then the engineman said to me "Johnny, how
would you like to drive this train back to Jamestown". "Really",
I said with eyes the size of saucers, thinking he was joking. He said, "yes
really" I was totally stunned, this was the last thing I expected. With that, the driver got out of his seat and said
"okay Johnny, she's all yours. I'll tell you what to do" as I climbed onto the
drivers seat, and the awe,,,,,,, of just looking down the length of this steaming
beasty engine was just fantastic in itself and I was now going to finally get to
drive it. WOW........... well not let
loose totally, under supervision of
course. The engineman told me a few things
as to what to do and to look out for. So here I was sitting in
the engineman's seat now, a dream come true, and as I looked around to the fireman,
he was grinning back at me like
a Cheshire cat. Can still see this like it was only yesterday, not over 40 years ago, such
was all this imprinted on my mind. Now I was looking back down the train for the Guard at the
rear
of the train of equal to about 90 four wheeled vehicles, it was a full
load for the Belalie Bank out of Jamestown, no reducing was needed.
I sounded the whistle as we were ready to go. The guard appeared
and looked out of his guards van and waved his flag (well his hand) to tell
let us it was okay for us to go. We already had the
correct staff for the Caltowie - Jamestown section, (the most
important thing) so I waved back to him, at same time gave the
engine's whistle a quick tug (nice sound) to acknowledge the
guard and that we were about to move off. Released the brakes, the sound of the air compressor pumping, wound the wheel
forward, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss to set the direction and stroke.
Winding this
Garratt wheel forward and backwards would be hard work if doing a lot shunting. Now I
fully understood why the driver of a Garratt would get upset at times when trying to place sheep
vans behind a big string of loaded ore wagons to a side loading sheep ramp dead
end that
had to be placed spot on to within an inch each way. Placing hook type empty
sheep vans with 1000 tons of loaded ore empties to side loader with empty sheep
vans on the rear of train was no fun, especially for the engine driver of a
Garratt. T class was lot easier to place empties.
Now this was the best bit......... reaching forward I put my hand
on that long regulator lever, squeezed the regulator set lever on
the main lever, and tugged the lever towards me a fraction and after a bit it all now
started to happen. It was like the engine took a deep breath and
then we were beginning to move and slow enough to gently take up all the slack up of all the couplings on every
wagon behind the engine back to the
guards van.
Being on the ground doing shunting operations I only knew all too well about
the slack in couplings and what damage that can do by being too over enthusiastic on the
throttle, especially a Garratt. Also as not to jerk
the Guard around in the Guards van at the back of the train from the slack taken up between all the couplings down through the
whole train. Some Guards over the years were badly hurt through an over
enthusiastic driver not thinking about this, especially in a hurry
to get home.
The sound was fantastic, this enormous steam power under you, you
can feel it up through the seat of your pants and your whole body, the feeling to have with
your hand of that throttle, to feel all this steaming horse power
under your bum up through your body. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck was
standing up. I could hear the steam power on at the front end first,
and then the steam power on at the back as Garratts steams both ends as we got going, then we were
starting to really roar, as we started gathering a bit of speed all 10 to 15mph of
it.
As the Garratt started to get a little speed, the engine was now
beginning to synchronize into one gigantic roar. I remember
looking out the window down towards the fire box at one point and you could
see, even in broad daylight, the fire (oil fired) leaping out keeping
in rhythm with the engine, it was like a huge synchronized orchestra and you
were the conductor. I do not think there is anything quite like this on earth to match
this.
At night while on duty I would stand on the Jamestown station platform as 482 (9pm)
or 108 (5am) would come "roaring" up the hill from Caltowie into the Jamestown yard, a
magnificent sight of this firebox at night from a distance it was really something to
witness and to hear when these engines in full flight with a
full load, it's mind boggling stuff. I've had an odd short drive of
"T" class steam as well and a few diesels, including a bluebird
railcar over my time, but nothing, no nothing, NOTHING literally compared to this. It's like "WOW". Even tearing across the water in my
Hydroplane at 84mph did not quite touch this wonderful experience.
Here I was, it was a warm spring afternoon about 1pm,
with my hand on the regulator and this beast roaring its head off
and hearing this mighty Garratt's engine's heart pounding away
and the steam oily smell,,,, of the steam engine, nice. As I kept looking around
at the driver and his fireman they were both ginning at
me as they could easily see I was really for want of a better saying, " over the moon" doing
this. The whole trip to Jamestown was 95% uphill, and took some
30 minutes. Coming up the hill into Jamestown the distant
Permissive signal was off (meaning OK to proceed past signal) I closed the
regulator off a bit and let the train's momentum carry us on as the
home absolute signal was off (meaning OK to enter the yard for
the UP main) a blow of the whistle (one long, one short, one
long), for the main railway crossing from Adelaide to Orroroo and
up over the crossing we went into the yard.
The look on the station clerk's face as we exchanged the electric
staff with him. Another slight touch of the regulator up the yard a bit to ease
the train into the yard, for it was still slightly uphill right to the water
column. Then close off the regulator, an small application of the train brakes and the train starts to slow as
we approach the water tower on the ash pit to take on water for
that major climb up the 1:60 Belalie North bank. Okay, I miss
timed a bit and stopped a tad short. Released
the train brake and a touch of the regulator and slowly edged
the engine to the exact watering point for fireman to take on water, closed off the regulator,
applied the train brakes a little, and came to a nice stop. WOW
!....... I could hardly believe I had actually done that..... Of
course with the very helpful pointers from the engineman. On my way back to the
station I asked the guard how
was the trip over from Caltowie he said was fine so I was happy.
Well I can tell you this first trip I will never forget, and am
always very thankful to the crew for allowing me the first chance to actually
sit in the hot seat and drive the Garratt engine. Still feel quite
excited even when I think about it, or listen to the
Garratt's recorded sounds. After that trip, I did manage a few more Garratt drives, a couple of times from
Gladstone back to Jamestown.
THE MIGHTY GARRATT 4-8-2 + 2-8-4
401 at Belalie North 1954 in her fresh paint
job of "invisible green". (pics: unknown) Note the hook
couplings and side chains.
A little later in 1962/63 these were changed over to
auto-couplings.
This was the
South Australian Railways "400" class, the mighty Garratt. The most powerful narrow gauge steam locomotive in Australia. The second most powerful steam locomotive (excluding boosters) on the South Australian Railways.
Based on a highly successful metre gauge design built be Bayer Peacock for the British War Department during World War II. the '400' class was identical in main specifications to the 60th class of the East African Railways. The design was also built in 1952 by Henschel of Germany for the Great Western Railways of Brazil and S.A.R.'s ten locomotives were built concurrently with an order for Pakistan. The design has been described by one authority as one of the best light Garratts ever built.
Small they may have been by Garratt standards, but on the Peterborough Division they were truly mighty. Few steam locomotives were loved by their crews as were the '400' Class
Garratts. When introduced in 1953 they had to live down the unfortunate impression created by the Australian Standard Garratt
(ASG) of sorry memory.
(see ASG picture below) This they soon did and in no time they had gained a reputation for reliability and guts.
Built by Beyer Peacock's European assoiciate Societe Franco-Beige De Materiel De Chemins De
Fer, of Raismes, France, the locomotives were of the 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 wheel arrangement. Although built as oil-burners the oil bunker was removable and provision was made for the fitting of a mechanical stoker should conversion to coal firing be required. The locomotives were also designed for conversion to either 5ft 3in, or 4ft 8½in gauge if necessary.
However, probably no other class of locomotive on the S.A.R. was so restricted to the one area of operation. They plied back and forth between Port Pirie and Cockburn with only occasionally the relief of runs to Terowie, 14 miles from Peterborough.
So proud of their Garratts were the Peterborough men that they painted them green, strictly against instructions. They poured a little green into the approved black and called it "invisible green". When newly issued to traffic they were immaculate to the last nut and bolt. Although they lasted only 17 years, it is fitting that they were not run until completely worn out. A worn out Garratt would have broken the heart of a Peterborough engineman.
And so it was right to the last, for in the final week of steam operation the
Garratts that took part did their jobs without faltering. Uploading their reputation as the noisiest engines on the S.A.R., their famous roar as they accelerated up the ruling grades was as strong as it ever was.
Cylinders (4): .............................. 16 in. x 24 in.
Boiler Pressure: ........................... 200lb.
Diameter of Driving Wheels: ............ 4 ft.
Tractive effort: ........................... 43,520 lb.
Roadworthy Weight:...................... 149 tons.
Length over couplers: ................... 87 ft. 5 in.
Want to hear the realistic sound of the mighty
400 class Bayer Garratt.
To hear the sound
as realistic as it really was in those great steam days" Then
turn your sound volume well up
as these were,,, very noisy engines under heavy load.
This sound recording was taken standing in railway yard as Garratt starts off
and goes past microphone
and heads off into the distance.
Sound
file: 1.4megs
Click here to play
South Australian Railways Narrow gauge Bayer Garratt
4-8-2 + 2-8-4
( MP3 file is 1.4megs in size, so may take a bit of time to load-up with a 56k
modem.)
CLICK to hear Garratt engine sounds and
go back to 1964.
Garratts working in reverse was not normal procedure. Because of new standard
gauge preparations, the Port Pirie turntable was out of use in very late 1960's,
so Garratts had to travel back to Peterborough in reverse, they could be turned
at Gladstone though. (pic: unknown)
Garratt 404
ASG's
Two 300 class ASG's Nos. 303
and 304 at Peterborough in January 1953. (pic: unknown)
The S.A.R at Peterborough needed motive power to fill in till the new 400 class Garratts arrived in 1953.
To fill in 6 condemned
Australian Standards Garratts
(ASG) were purchased from Western Australia to keep the freight moving.
These engines briefly fulfilled a useful function, but were quickly scrapped on delivery of the new 400 class
Bayer Garratts.
These days I may be retired
and out of the Railways, but since Microsoft Train Simulator was released in May 2001,
(bit old hat now) I now get to drive and still
shunt
with trains on my computer. Since Train Simulator was released the
Simulator has come a long way and now there is some good South Australian
Railway. routes to re-live those good old golden train days of the
past.
ADDED INFO 2010: Now many thanks to MSTS
and to a South Australian Route and Engine/Rollingstock builder Allan
Lownsborough, (sadly now since passed away) one be able to drive full load T's and Garratts from
Jamestown up to and over Belalie North to Yongala and onto Peterborough and vice
versa, also to Terowie and Quorn. The old computer era has now allowed one to relive those Narrow Gauge
experiences, though in a virtual reality some 40 years later. It's great to be RIDING
THOSE NG RAILS again and driving those loved NG engines as well.