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Old 13th June 2022, 21:19
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DSY011 DSY011 is offline  
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: BRISTOL U.K.
Posts: 4,464
Some of the 15th class Garratt's were capable of 60 m.p.h. along the Dett Straight, which was quite an experience the first few times my driver did it. With loco's that were 10' 6" wide on 3' 6" track, the Garratt's would rock quite a bit. Just as well we never hit an elephant at that speed. On approach to a siding, we had to slow down to about 35 mph as we could be set onto a turn out. On the straight we could see a train approaching the other way at night due to their 250 watt head light. Of course, the crews all knew the route and would know that one of us would would be taking a turn out. We would see the approaching train turn out, or at night, the head light swing out, or we would get a caution with a small amber light showing that it would be us taking the turn out.
The best part of working the Dett Straight was that for 70 miles, we were running through a game reserve, and were often able to see wild life. As I have said on an earlier post, we did once hit an elephant, at a much lower speed, but even an elephant can't survive a hit from a Garratt. There was not much left of it.
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The Old Git, Syd
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