Puffing Billy Railway - G42

[morrison2791]

Hope they have the R class

[Skywatcher31]

Garratts from Australia and South Africa run very successfully in North Wales on 2 ft gauge track (60 cm )

[Bluey10001]

A great little railway, but why would you want to sit with your legs hanging out of the windows of the carriages. It may appear to be safe to do so, until the first person falls off and gets injured.

[jimsmodeltrains]

@Bluey10001 I have only heard of one person ever falling out of a carraige while sitting with their legs hanging out. Even though I went on this train a number of times over my life, I never had the compulsion to sit with my legs hanging out. But it is a quite popular way to travel on Puffing Billy. The popularity of travelling this way probably harks back to before the railway was a tourist railway.

[kevkoala]

It's perfectly safe hanging out of the carriages like this as there's bars to keep you in and there's nothing wrong with it. It's been going on since cocky was an egg! The speed limit is actually 25 MPH.

[Mechknight73]

They must have been out of their minds putting a Garratt on a 2'6 gauge. Even the WA Garratts ran on a 3'6 gauge

[jimsmodeltrains]

@Mechknight73 , I believe one of the reasons they introduced the 2 Garrats was to allow for longer trains. There was some problems with restrictions of only one loco on some of the NG lines. I suspect the two 2'6" Garratts are considerably smaller than the WA and Qld Garratts. I heard somewhere that the Puffing Billy Railway thought they might have some issue on the sharpest curves on the line because the Garratts have no trailling wheel (2-6-0 + 0-6-2 wheel arrangement). Thanks for your comment

[Mechknight73]

@jimsmodeltrains It's still amazing, because the only other trains I've ever seen on this narrow a gauge is in Queensland, pulling cane trains, and the rail lines inside mines. It's not like there was no room to run a wider gauge line. WA used 3'6 gauge because it was believed that C.Y. O'Connor, an Irish engineer, was used to this gauge. This was the man who designed the Perth-Kalgoorlie pipeline

[herbgarratt]

@Mechknight73

Garratts went right down to 2'-0" gauge? Plenty of them? They ranged from 5'-6" gauge (Spain) right down to 2'-0"?

[jimsmodeltrains]

@herbgarratt Garratts are often thought of being huge monsters of locos, somewhat like the Challengers and Big Boys of the US. Many of them are, but I have heard that the first Garratt ever built was built for a narrow guage tramway in Tasmania. Australia and Africa were probably the two most common continents for Garratts. Australian Garratts ranges from 2 ft guage right through to 4 ft 8.5in guage. In Africa I think most Garratts were narrow guage.

[Dombomb3131]

they still use this train dont they?

havent seen it for a while

[trainfan761]

It is perfectly safe i have done it too and its such a magnificent loco!

[russellstanleywright]

All locos including G42 (originally for walhalla line) are on 20MPH limit, Most of the time they operate on 15MPH 1,due to tight curves along the line for safety 2, not to over work engines and rolling stock 3, smooth ride for passengers and make it more enjoyable pace.

[russellstanleywright]

i have also done it... no one has ever fallen from the passenger cars.... the train isnt traveling as fast as it seems i think top speed is 20mph! and above all that it has been running like this as far back as i can remember when i was 6 0r seven... im 25 now and never heard of people falling out!

[jimsmodeltrains]

20MPH is the top speed. Whether that's an old VR top speed for the narrow gauge lines in Victoria, or the top speed the original locos (NA's) were rated at by Baldwin I don't know.

[rustyandersonguitar]

It does seem dangerous, but they have bars to keep them in place.

[jimsmodeltrains]

It does seem dangerous when you see the passengers sitting on the car railing like that. But I haven't heard of any people actually falling out of the carriages!

Thanks for your comment.

[applecounty]

Some of those hanging out of the windows must have a death wish, especially on that trestle.

[EndorphinsRUS]

I've done it... it was perfectly safe.