UK-built Garratt recruited to museum fleet in ‘bargain buy’
BEYERGARRATT No. 6029, the largest and most powerful operational UK-built steam locomotive in world preservation, has changed ownership Down Under after being bought by the New South Wales state government from a private syndicate.
Although officials are remaining tight-lipped about its price, reports within the Australian preservation movement are quoting a figure of $150,000 (£85,000), which if accurate represents what one enthusiast described as “an absolute bargain.”
The 4-8-4+4-8-4 weighs 264 tons, is 109ft long, and has a tractive effort of 63,016lb ft. It was built by Beyer Peacock at its Manchester works in 1953, and after being shipped halfway round the world entered service with NSW Government Railways the following year as a member of the AD60 class. After 18 years working heavy coal trains, it was withdrawn in 1972 with 620,000 miles on the clock and was saved by the National Museum of Australia to enter a new lease of life on railtour duty.
In 1981 it was placed in store in the yard of Canberra Railway Museum, where it remained until 2007 when, by then owned by the Australian Railway Historical Society, a major overhaul started. It returned to service in 2015, but a year later faced an uncertain future due to the shock collapse of the ACT division of the society and the closure of its museum home.
However, in 2017, a private syndicate bought the locomotive and relocated it to the NSW Rail Museum at Thirlmere, 55 miles south-west of Sydney, from where it has run tourist trains operated by Transport Heritage NSW.
‘Outstanding example’
Rumours of another sale have been rife within the enthusiasts’fraternity since the beginning of this year, and on May 7 they proved to be correct when the state government revealed it had bought the Garratt and put it into the care of THNSW.
The statement said the state government had “secured” the locomotive while not identifying from whom it was bought, but it is understood it was purchased from the private syndicate, led by enthusiasts David Sommerville and Phil Davis. Neither does the statement reveal how much the state government paid for the engine, but one Australian enthusiast told Heritage Railway: “If, as I understand it, the state government paid $150,000, it was an absolute bargain.
“There are three other preserved members of the class, and it would cost significantly more than that to get any of them up to main line standard.”
Members of the state’s political establishment, including Nathaniel Smith MP and the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business, Lou Amato, participated in a photocall at the museum on May 7 to announce the purchase of the Garratt, which the MP described as “an outstanding example of rail engineering.”
Transport Heritage NSW chief executive Andrew Moritz said
No. 6029 was popular with the public and members of his organisation, and was an important acquisition as it would be able to provide operational back-up for another state-owned locomotive in its fleet, Class C38 No. 3801. This Pacific has even higher profile than No. 6029 due its distinctive streamlined design and nickname Down Under as ‘Australia’s Flying Scotsman.’
The Garratt will run for the first time under its new owner over the weekend of June 11-13 on a series of trips out of Bathurst in the central NSW.