Beyer Garratt loco footplate ride in Zimbabwe

buxton4472
buxton4472
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Published 2009-10-22
A series of excerpts from an hour's footplate ride from Gwaai to Kennedy siding (within Hwange National Park) on the Bulawayo - Dete - Victoria Falls main line in Zimbabwe. Filmed in June 1998 during a memorable trip on Geoff Cooke's steam-hauled 'Train de Luxe' to Victoria Falls, the opportunity to ride the footplate of NRZ (ex Rhodesian Railways) Class 15A No. 406 was too good to miss. The line runs dead straight for scores of miles throughout the section featured, unfortunately almost directly into the sun at the time which was not good for filming forward down the length of the boiler. The track was well maintained but trying to hold a video camera steady at speeds of up to 60 mph on a steam loco footplate was not easy, so apologies for the frequent jumpy footage. The Garratt loco was built at Beyer-Peacock's Gorton Works, Manchester in 1950, so was almost 50 years old when this footage was taken.
All Comments (21)
  • @choirboyfromhell1
    Magnificent. A steam cab ride with Wildebeasts, Zebras and a spectacular sunset.
  • @stuartmathe44
    I feel like crying sometimes the collapse of NRZ is so sad nearly all my family worked of NRZ .Travelled a lot on these trains miss the old good days in Bulawayo .
  • @TheMcraemer
    I often watched these amazing Garratts in the early nineteen-fifties as they passed through our town on their way south with endless columns of copper-laden trucks. More than half a century later, I still remember the sounds they made as they pulled out of the marshaling yard, and the smell of hot steam and coal that hung in the air afterwards. Many thanks for the movie.
  • @Dallas-Nyberg
    Love these locos..... I see the cow catcher has done it's job! 0:09
  • @langmorerenoir7270
    Hi Buxton, I'm sure Bulowayo was BLR but BYO rings a bell.Firing a good 15th class was indeed brilliant, when the went they flew. Some Garrets came up from South Africa. I think they were classified 16A, They were totally clapped out, expect that is why SA "helped" out with the "war effort". The train left BYO for Sawmills (about halfway to TJ. and met with a train bound for BYO from TJ or Wankie. Crews exchanged trains and then went home. Tell you more if you are interested. Cheers.
  • @ralph5407
    Excellent footage, glad to say I've been there and done it also with Geoff Cooke, 2010 and RTC 2007. My footage is on here as well.
  • @SS08947
    9:12, RR on the window glass, brings back memories!
  • @duxberry1958
    When i was a kid i went Cape Town to Broken Hill ,,,
  • @langmorerenoir7270
    Your vid bought it all back! I "graduated" out of Bulowayo as an Engineman 4th Class around November 1972. I totally pissed off my first driver when I asked him to pronounce his yarpy surname when I got on the footplate for my first trip out of BLR as a trainee". What did he expect from a cocky 17 yo kid from Brighton? LOL. Got posted to Gatooma later. So good there, no night shift working.
  • @tonywolton
    Many thanks Buxton 4472 for the info.If Chinese working steam is now defunct, and from what I can glean from the net it is, are the Zimbabwe Garratts the world's last working steam locos? I often wonder if the last steamer on the planet will perform it's final duty and go without witness or ceremony.
  • @buxton4472
    Thank you for your comments and recalling your days on RR. It must have been an incredible experience at that age to be firing a 15th Class out of BLR to TJ, Gwelo, West Nicholson, wherever... Gatooma is now presumably Kadoma. Were you working there as a fireman? If so, was it a signing-on point?
  • @robertjm94706
    YOUZA!! Someone must have ice water flowing through their veins! Not sure I could do that for so long.
  • @henryostman5740
    Was this standard gauge? Nice knuckle couplers, strange that Africa has them ahead of GB. A large locomotive to hand fire especially since it was made so late in the steam age, don't the Brits know about stokers?
  • @duxberry1958
    Theres something about waking up in the morning and watching the sun rise from a window of a train in Africa ,,,
  • @tonywolton
    Excellent film. I dare say these men were poorly paid but their work is/ was 100 times more interesting than my job. Was it the norm to have a crew of 3 on  Garratts? I write this in June 2014, can anyone help, is there any working steam still left in Zimbabwe? Many thanks.........