GCA 2199, Donnybrook Natal, Oct 1974

[Steve Appleton]

Posted for the photographer, Dennis Mitchell:

In 1974, the great Garratt capital of the world, Natal, was undergoing change. Firstly, for the uninitiated, anywhere you went from the coast in Natal, i.e. west, was UP because of the Drakensburg (Dragon's back) mountains. The old Natal Railways dealt with this problem with 4-10-2T locos. But when the S.A.R. was formed in 1910, some bigger solutions were soon on the drawing boards. D.A. Hendrie, the C.M.E. of the old Natal Govt Rlys, had already toyed around with Mallets and these held sway for a few years until about 1920, when the S.A.R. tried just about every type of articulation they could get their hands on, with Mallets, double Fairlies, Garratts, Union Garratts, articulated Fairlies, etc, all having a "crack". By about 1924, the results showed the Garratt type was the best for the 1 in 30 grades of most of the Natal lines.
The Drakensburg mountains were roughly a mountain range around 10,000 ft a.s.l. with peaks around 12,000 ft, so it's a bit like leaving Sydney with a mountain range 3 times as high!
After intial tests with the class GA (main line) and the class GB (branch line) Garratts in 1921-2, the next in the long line of 3'6" Garratts were the class GCA 2-6-2+2-6-2 of about 1925/6 from Krupp of Germany. At this time (late 1974), the dreaded diseasel was making inroads into the Garratt's homeland, and the only thing keeping these GCAs in employment was that the branch line to Underberg could not take the weight of the interlopers. Although, at that time, there was a Judas in the shape of class GMA No 4162, working the track-relaying train towards Underberg.
Anyway, at the time of this photo, a GCA was the heaviest loco that could run to Underberg and the 2 daily trains were worked by Donnybrook's GCAs. There were also about 5 class GF 4-6-2+2-6-4 s working to Kokstad and Matatiele to the south and pick-ups north to Pietermaritzburg.

This is GCA No 2199 at Donnybrook station with a mixed for Underberg, October 1974.

P.S. There were many classes of Garratts that worked in Natal: classes GA,GB, GCA, GD, GDA, GE, GEA, GF, GK, GL, GM, GMA and GO on the 3' 6", and NGG classes 11, 13 , 14 and 16 on the 2' (about 450 locos all up).

[Nathan Berelowitz]

You know, those words are book material. The way you describe the setting, I could be reading a wonderfull railway book. I recall that GCA at Greyville along with a second one, that was done up for a farewell to steam special to Port Shepstone way back when. That is why all the SAR stuff is stuck on. This loco was earmarked by the museum for preservation. I have b&w of this loco at Greyville and had it published in the then SASSAR magazine.