East African Railway 4-8-2+2-8-4 No. 6006
Nairobi, Kenya 		Location: Nairobi Railway Museum
Status: Display
Posted: Aug 15, 2007 @ 16:08:45 by Steve Frost
The magnificent Garratts of the 59 class of East African Railways were built for the haul up from the coast at Mombasa to Nairobi on the African plateau - a climb of around 5000 feet. The ruling gradient was 1.5% (1 in 65) for no less than 350 miles. It was also sharply curved, and this is where the Garratt scored. Since the boiler was carried between the two power units, it automatically swung to the inside of the curve in a chord, helping stability on tight curves. The Garratt design also made for good steaming, as there was nothing at all under the firebox, so a wide, deep firebox and ashpan could be provided with no restriction on airflow. The boiler could be built to a larger diameter than would have been possible on a rigid frame loco (or other types of articulated locos) so a short but wide boiler made steaming strong. On a journey that required hard steaming all the way for up to 15 hours, this was not optional! They hauled freight, but also the pretigious 'Uganda Mail' and this is what gave them their maroon livery (somewhat faded on the photo) and their names. They carried the names of African mountains, like Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Eglon, although I don't know the name of this example and the plate is missing in the photo. The giesel ejector fitted to this example does nothing for its appearance, and their appearance was usually immaculate, especially on the footplate. Sadly, the inevitable diesels saw these truly great machines off by 1980.