One of the greatest advantages of the Beyer-Garratt design was that it was very user-friendly to track. The boiler being slung between the two engines meant that the mass of the boiler was ‘inside’ the curve of the track, rather than outside, as with the larger US locomotives like any of their articulated designs. It was also possible to have a lower overall height than the other kind of articulated loco where the boiler sat on top of the frames and wheels. Sadly, by the time that the Beyer-Garratt design had proved itself, the USA had already moved on into the Mallet and other articulated designs, and it was overlooked.
Note also that the Beyer-Garrat was built in German by Henschel as well as in France and Belgium [Cockerill], and used extensively in North Africa on Algerian and Moroccan railroads. The French-built versions with their Cossart valve gear where engineering marvels.
I have an AccuCraft SAR narrow gauge live-steamer - a very popular model here and in the USA - see it in action on YouTube - tac’s trains - Garratt. Here in UK we have a couple of guys who build them in 16mm scale for coal-firing. The Aster model, recently made in yet another run, is the New South Wales Government loco in preservation, nd is one of the largest ever built. There are still a few in Southern Africa, too, both standard gauge as well as Cape gauge [3ft 6in].
Your comment about them only being built from 0-6-0+0-6-0 however is incorrect. The ORIGINAL K1 class Beyer-Garratt - yes, the very actual one itself - is an 04-0+0-4-0 and is running in preservation on the Welsh Highland Railway, having been brought back from the dead in its Tasmanian home and come back to UK for a happy revitalisation to the delight of us all.
Don’t overlook the OTHER similar-but-not-quite designs by Meyer and Kitson-Meyer - to be found in South America on narrow gauge lines around the Andes and central Argentina/Chile - Ferrocarriles de Peru had a number of them - Magnus made a model for LGB back in the early '80’s for around $5000 or so.
Here in North Wales is the largest collection of working narrow gauge Garratts on earth - the Welsh Highland Railway’s four ex-Sandstone/ACR - some of which. Again, Youtube is your friend here - you might even see mrs tac and me last year riding from Caernarvon to Porthmadog! There are a couple on the old line in South Africa - see Sandstone Garratts on YouTube.
Here in UK the LMS had about twenty of them for long coal trains - 2-6-0+0-6-2, and the LNER had just one - a 2-8-0+0-8-2. The LMS locos had a rotating coal bunker to make life easier [huh] but the LNER version did not - my former RAF Warrant Officer’s dad was the last fireman on that loco and it nigh-on killed him off before his time.
tac
