AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS

• 72p.,4p. of fold. plates : ill. ; 28cm. #101024 First Edition.
• Steam locomotives: Australian Standard Garratt. Australia
• Locomotives — Australia — History
• Geelong Steam Preservation Society
• Australian Railway Historical Society. Victorian Division
• (Ownership stamp on prelims.)
• “The Australian Standard Garratt (ASG) was a Garratt steam locomotive designed in Australia during the Second World War, and which was used on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway systems in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge Australian Standard Garratt (ASG) of 1943, a 4-8-2+2-8-4 locomotive, was designed during the crisis period of World War II immediately following the bombing of Darwin. As an emergency measure the Commonwealth Land Transport Board commissioned a team of engineers led by Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) Chief Mechanical Engineer, Frederick Mills, to design the new class of Garratt, which was to bolster the inadequate fleet of locomotives on Australia’s extensive narrow gauge rail systems. The Australian government had sought to obtain drawings and licenses from Beyer, Peacock and Company but that was denied. The class of 57 locomotives (out of a planned 65) was designed in 1942 and built from scratch within four months in 1943. Construction lasted until 1945.The locomotives were produced by the WAGR’s Midland Railway Workshops, the Victorian Railways Newport Workshops, and the South Australian Railways Islington Workshops, as well as the private firm Clyde Engineering. The locomotives delivered 34,521 lbf (153,560 N) of tractive effort.”