South African Mancunian retired to Gwynedd

(Rain in Wales? Maybe occasionally.)

Here at SRM HQ there is a soft spot for steam trains, hence the "Occasional Steam Train" series.

Today - in honour of Mr. Joe Fuller's birthday, we look at some of the most powerful 2ft gauge steam engines ever built - the South African NGG16 Garratts. A Garratt is a type of steam engine in which a larger-than-otherwise-possible boiler is carried on a paid of articulated power units, to make a smooth-riding and extremely powerful locomotive for its size. Though there were some standard gauge examples in the UK, including 33 on the LMS and the LNER's unique U1, Britain's most powerful steam locomotive, Garratts were synonymous with 3' 6" (Cape Gauge) systems in southern Africa, (though they also appeared in Australia, too), where despite being "narrow guage" were often larger than contemporary British practice on standard gauge.

But what concerns us here is 2' gauge super-power. Weighing in at around 60 tons and delivering over 21,000lb tractive effort, the NGG16s, behemoths of the narrow gauge, are more than twice the 24t weight of the iconic Ffestiniog Railway Double Fairlies like Livingston Thompson which produced less than 9,000lb tractive effort.

(Not a Garratt - a Double Fairlie)

And after retirement from South Africa, some of these Manchester built Beyer-Peacock Garratts (known worldwide as Beyer-Garratts) were repatriated as the ideal power for the rebuilt Welsh Highland.

Why are these Garratts so important? Well partly due to their size, they provide the capability to run profitable trains over the fabulous Welsh Highland Railway, something that the original line torn up in the 1940s never achieved. The WHR features a 1-in-40 ascent from the lovely village of Beddgelert to the base of Snowdon and then across farmland to Caernarfon Castle. It also runs through the breathtaking Aberglaslyn Pass, below:

Interestingly, one of those on the WHR is number 143, the last Beyer-Garratt produced, so in sharing the line with the first, K1, Wales now has the Alpha and Omega of these characterful engines that did so much to open up narrow gauge lines across the British Commonwealth in the first half of the 20th century.

(Last Beyer-Garratt ever... No 143 at Rydd Ddu)

So let's celebrate these returnees, and hope that they will continue to trundle visitors through the Snowdonia National Park for generations to come. Bravo!

(Number 87, one of the Belgian-built engines at Rydd Ddu - pronounced Writh-Dee, more or less.)

Happy Birthday Joe!

Pointless Posturing Update

(Roosevelt said something about walking softly and carrying a big stick. Indeed. Old, but gotta love F-14s)

The pointless posturing of our title is by the Iranian regime. So it seems the Iranians backed down, and then having backed down, told the US Navy that it couldn't operate it's aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf (or, if you want to annoy the Iranians, the Arabian Gulf - isn't language funny.)

The US Navy gave Iran a stern ignoring. Quelle surprise.

And it will carry on until the Iranians need another external mini-crisis for internal political pressures. At least President Obama doesn't have to (although the GOP do, it seems). 

Good going USN.

As ever, read the instruction manual....

When they built this:

(HMS Resolution, the UK's first SSBN arriving at Faslane in 1967 for the first time)

The good people involved wrote a book "The Nassau Connection" explaining how they did it - or at least how they managed the project.

(A short book. Sadly out of print.)

It's a short book, at just over 100 pages in a sparse civil service style, and is very interesting. So if you want to build something to replace this:

 

(HMS Vanguard, the first of Trident submarines arrives in 1994)

You'd do well to read this most interesting little book. Equally, if you think this is a silly idea (or even a very silly idea) then there's plenty of food for thought in this book, too. I'll post a fuller review shortly.

It's Morning in Arabia

 (The Gold Standard for political advertising, dammit. No wonder Mondale/Ferraro got stuffed.)

(Without apologies to the Gipper.)

Firstly, Happy 2012!

It's hard to believe that less than 12 months ago, I posted a tongue-in-cheek piece about autocrats' egomania after the thunderclap of Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution. Yet less than a year on, brave people are protesting (and dying) in Syria,  three dictators have gone, with Tunisia, Libya Egypt and Yemen all standing at the dawn of a new and vibrant cacophony of politics and social change, with only Bahrain's regime looking like it has successfully suppressed popular anger. But it is unlikely to end here, as the siren calls of fresh air continue to echo around the Arab world, with unpredictable, but likely positive long-term effects. And crucially, an acceptance in the West that we can't reverse this tide even if we wanted to, so it's much better to be on the right side of history rather than having history's wave crash over you. 

Just before Christmas, Chatham House published a really interesting paper on Saudi Arabia's medium term economic and fiscal position which is fascinating (and for Saudis facing a demographic explosion, terrifying). Accountability is going to be key in making the choices that such a fiscal transition will require, so pressure for change will only increase. Interesting times ahead!