2-8-0+0-8-2

2-8-0+0-8-2 (Double Consolidation)

The LNER's sole Class U1 Garratt

Equivalent classifications UIC class 1D+D1 French class 140+041 Turkish class 45+45 Swiss class 4/5+4/5, 8/10 from 1920s Russian class 1-4-0+0-4-1

First known tank engine version First use 1924 Country Burma Locomotive Class GA.I Railway Burma Railways Designer Beyer, Peacock and Company Builder Beyer, Peacock and Company

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, the 2-8-0+0-8-2 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 2-8-8-2.

Overview

This Garratt wheel arrangement was somewhat common, especially for locomotives intended for freight service. The first 2-8-0+0-8-2 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 (LNER), built in 1925.^[1][2][3]

Usage

Burma

Apart from their first single class GA.I locomotive of 1924, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge 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.^[1][4]

India

The 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Bengal Nagpur Railway in India used two of the class HSG, built by Beyer, Peacock in 1925.

Ten 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge examples were purchased by the British War Department in 1943 and used on the Bengal Assam Railway in India as their Class MWGX.^[1]

Mauritius

Mauritius Railway no. 60

The Mauritius Railway owned three 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratts, also built by Beyer, Peacock in 1927.^[1]

Turkey

The Ottoman Railways in Turkey acquired a single 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt from Beyer, Peacock in 1927.^[1]

United Kingdom

Class U1 on the Lickey Incline, 1949

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) 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.^[1][2][3]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2-8-0+0-8-2.