GIANT LOCOMOTIVE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 555, 7 January 1929, Page 8

GIANT LOCOMOTIVE

NEW GARRETT WEIGHS 146 TONS MAKES EASY WORK OF HILLS The Garrett locomotive, which has arrived by the Northumberland for use on the Main Trunk line, has several important features. When the locomotive is in working order she will weigh 146 tons. Each driving wheel weighs 14 2-3 tons. The Garret has two and a-half times the hauling strength of the present locomotives which run on the Main Trunk line.

This new locomotive is really two sets of engines, each with three cyclinders, and is fitted with a mechanical stoker and steam reversing gear. Its boiler pressure is 2001 b t*b the square inch and its overall length is 76 feet. The Garrett locomotive is the first of three ordered by the Government some months ago for use on the heavy grades of the Main Trunk line. It is considered that such locomotives will be much more economical as they will be able to draw heavier loads over the steep grades of the line. The engine is so constructed that it will readily traverse five chain radius curves and will run at the

maximum allowable speed of 50 miles an hour.

A railway official stated this morning that the use of Garrett locomotives on the Main Trunk line will not reduce the running time of the expresses. There is no intention of speeding up the two expresses between Auckland and Wellington, but the advent of the Garrett locomotives will allow heavier loads to be drawn over the hilly country.

The new locomotive will go on to Wellington on the Northumberland and will be assembled at the workshops at Lower Hutt. As soon as the trial runs have been satisfactorily concluded she will be put into commission. running northwards from Tailiape. The approximate cost of each Garrett locomotive is £II,OOO in the shop?, but the expense of reassembling and transport will have to be added to this