Hi All
This is One of many steam locomotives displayed in the railway museum in George in the Western Cape,
South Africa.These giants did service between Cape Town and Knysna through the Outeniqua mountians
through gradients of 1 in 36.!!!

They were very good at pulling out couplers though!
Their main problem was that they were just too powerful(six cylinders) and they were the only engines with a mechanical stoker, and very few firemen could really use the stoker properly.
Because of these failures any subsequent order would cause an uproar by the press saying the Govermbent Railways was wasting valuable taxpayer monney on another stupid design, so no further engines were built.
New Zealand can therefore claim the title of being the only country which the Garratts failed to conquer.

However, Steam Incorporated and mailine steam have between them 3 Beyer-Garratts which were imported from South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is intended to eventually restore these beasts and run them on the mainline.

Cheers,
Rick