2-8-0+0-8-2


Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, the is a Garratt articulated locomotive. The wheel arrangement is effectively two 2-8-0 locomotives operating back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between the two power units. Each power unit has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by four coupled pairs of driving wheels and no trailing wheels. Since the 2-8-0 type is sometimes known as a Consolidation, the corresponding Garratt type could be referred to as a Double Consolidation.
A similar wheel arrangement exists for Mallet type locomotives, but is referred to as.

Overview

This Garratt wheel arrangement was somewhat common, especially for locomotives intended for freight service. The first locomotive was a single metre gauge locomotive built by Beyer Peacock in 1924 for the Burma Railways as their class GA.I. The second, and perhaps the better known, was the single Class U1 of the London and North Eastern Railway, built in 1925.
GaugeRailwayClassWorks no.UnitsYearBuilder
Burma RailwaysGA.I618011924Beyer, Peacock
Burma RailwaysGA.II635411927Beyer, Peacock
Burma RailwaysGA.III6411-641331927Beyer, Peacock
War Dept., Bengal Assam RailwayLight7112-7121101943Beyer, Peacock
Burma RailwaysGA.IV1077-108481929Krupp
London and North Eastern RailwayU1620911925Beyer, Peacock
Ottoman Railways, Turkey632411927Beyer, Peacock
Mauritius Railway6381-638331927Beyer, Peacock
Bengal Nagpur Railway, IndiaHSG6261-626221925Beyer, Peacock

Usage

Burma

Apart from their first single class GA.I locomotive of 1924, the Burma Railways acquired another locomotive from Beyer, Peacock in 1927, classifying it GA.II. In that same year, another four of class GA.III were placed in service, also from Beyer, Peacock. In 1929, Krupp of Essen in Germany delivered eight more, designated Class GA.IV.

India

The Bengal Nagpur Railway in India used two of the class HSG, built by Beyer, Peacock in 1925.
Ten examples were purchased by the British War Department in 1943 and used on the Bengal Assam Railway in India as their Class MWGX.

Mauritius

The Mauritius Railway owned three Garratts, also built by Beyer, Peacock in 1927.

Turkey

The Ottoman Railways in Turkey acquired a single Garratt from Beyer, Peacock in 1927.

United Kingdom

The London and North Eastern Railway owned a single Class U1 Garratt, built by Beyer, Peacock in 1925. It was designed by Nigel Gresley for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead Route. The Class U1 was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in the United Kingdom.