Had the pleasure of a 'foot plate' ride on the Mary Valley Rattler in Gympie recently. A child-hood dream for a 68 year old. What an absolute hoot! Thanks for the cab ride on the historic Garrett.
i spent many years of my life as a fitter on NSWGR overhauling these garratt loco,s what a great machine!!--so thanks to YOU & the people that saved this BEAUTIFUL MACHINE from the gas axe.
I know this section of the main western line fairly well. My mum, her brothers and sisters and cousins spent much of their school holidays at Gemalla between Tarana and Locksley. Great vision. Thanks
Fantastic filming. This reminded me of when I was able to ride in the cab of 6039 in November 1977. And in March 1978 at the Cardiff workshops 50th anniversary celebrations.
Brilliant video, certainly is an impressive beast. I once had a footplate ride and a fire on an ex South African Railways NGG16 Garratt on the Welsh Highland Railway in the UK and thought that was big (well they are for 2 foot gauge) but this is on another level!
If you are old enough to, say born between 1943 and 1964 you might remember the old carriages, with those six or eight seater “cabins”. They always had a variety of black and white photos. Many of these were taken between Bathurst and Lithgow.
These days she has it easy hauling light weight passenger trains with a diesel hanging off the rear to provide extra power and speed on steep grades. In her service days she worked very hard every single day and often double headed with one of her sisters or a standard 2-8-0 goods loco. She wasn't bought or built for speed but for heavy haulage. Today she has bright sparkling paintwork but in her service days the only time she had bright sparkling paintwork was when she was repainted after an overhaul. She was never cleaned and none of the Garratts were so they were just plain filthy. She's now received red lining which they all had when they first entered service. This really is a unique view and Bevan knows who to ask to get permission for a filming cab ride. His son drives for Southern Short haul Railroad, a large private operator.
Beautiful; absolutely beautiful. Remember the Garratts from my years at Yunta (SA), when they did the Peterborough / Terowie / Broken Hill run and how sad it was to see them laid up and being cut up for scrap on the salvage line at Peterborough after Standardisation.
3:00 - In case you were wondering, in Australia and other "civilized" countries, pressure is measured in Pascals (Pa), which is defined as one Newton per square meter.
@@allanchapman6250 The level of the water in the glass depends on the loco and whether the grade is mainly rising or falling. I usually carried the water about 1/3 of the glass to have as much steam space as possible without risking having the water level fall below the bottom of the glass.
The stoker carries coal from under the coal pile to the lip of the firebox door and there are several jets directing the coal to where it is needed. The stoker is an auger powered by a 2-cylinder engine under the coal pile. By the use of more or less steam, the speed of the stoker may be controlled.
One of the most exciting active steam locos anywhere in the world, and great video work. I expect the fireman went home and told his wife how hard he worked feeding that big firebox. One question. 6029 is supposedly set up for full bidirectional operation, which I would expect consists of 2 sets of engineer's controls, one facing toward the rear. Is that the case, or does the engineer just have a big rear view mirror? Your work is appreciated!
Two sets of controls and a mechanical stoker. The NSWGR C38s have a 47 sq ft firegrate and were just within the limits for hand firing. The AD60 Garatts have a 65 sq ft firegrate. Just a wee bit too much for a fireman🥵
I think I've seen this video before, but I'll say it again...I loved the way the crew had her working and I especially loved the stop. Brakes released at the last turn of the wheel. I notice The Driver (Les isn't?) Had regulator open powering to a stop. Must be a NSW thing. Almost always we stop without steam when I was working steam up here for QR. Also noticed the bounce, Our 2-8-2 AC16 used to do that at around 70kph. I wondered if there's a speed range where if you get over a speed that it smoothes back out or if the centrifical forces just keep compounding??? I used to know when I got to 100kph on our bety 1079, by the feel, it was like the engine would lift up and float with the cab oscilating in a circular motion side to side underneath you. Loved the video Bevan, thanks. Adrian.
Awesome shots there Bevan , you're so lucky to have a ride in 6029 - I just wish that I could do the same , so , Many Thanks for sharing your adventures via You Tube mate & may I get a chance to catch up with you some time.
It is the reverse gear. It is hooked to the reverse levers on each engine to control the cut-off and direction the loco goes. It is the modern version of the Johnson bar.
