Beyer Garratt # 91 – Bruce Ward

Beyer Peacock produced four 0-4-0 + 0-4-0 standard gauge Industrial Garratts between 1925 and 1937 for use in the UK. All were similar in overall design but had detailed differences. My model is based on a combination of the works drawings for the first one supplied to Vivian & Sons (Copper Manufacturers) of Swansea (works number 6172); and the final one of the four supplied to Baddesley Collieries (works number 6841) and now in the Bressingham Steam Museum, Norfolk, UK.

To give an idea of the locomotive’s capabilities the third of the four supplied to Sneyd Colliery was used to haul empty coal wagons up a 1 in 18 gradient (approximately 5.5%) with a 90-foot radius curve (Scale radius 11’ 3”).

My original intention was to build the locomotive from scratch and I acquired a high resolution copy of the 1923 general arrangement drawing from the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester: however, before starting construction I found a partly built model on Discover Live Steam which I was able to purchase from the estate of Bruce Ward in 2011. As purchased the model consisted of the center boiler frame and the two completed power units which had been run on steam from a stationary boiler

My first task was to finalize a design for the boiler, a number of possible layouts came with the model however all require a custom rolled barrel and did not have Belpaire fireboxes as fitted to the original, this was a feature that I wished to retain.

The boiler is steel with rolled in copper tubes and uses 8” nominal pipe, which although slightly over scale size, avoided the need to roll a custom barrel. The boiler was manufactured by Godshall’s Live Steam in Pennsylvania.

The front water tank, rear tank/coal bunker and cab were all fabricated from sheet steel riveted and/or bolted together. The tanks are lined with a proprietary Gas Tank sealer to protect against corrosion and seal the inevitable leaks at the seams (not entirely successful).

Pipework and swivels for the steam and exhaust connections between the central boiler unit and the two power units are of my own design based on the prototype and allow the units to pivot both horizontally and vertically to accommodate curves and undulations in the track. The joints consist of a stainless-steel ball with PTFE seals in a brass housing and an associated slip joint with a graphite yarn packing.

Both exhausts combine into a single blast pipe in the base of the smokebox with a sliding vertical ball joint on the front exhaust to accommodate the movement of the front power unit.

The locomotive was initially tested on air and taken to the Windy Ridge RailRoad (WRRR) for a test run in December 2021 to ensure there was sufficient movement in the power unit swivels and associated pipework.

The testing was successful and indicated that the locomotive had plenty of power. This was followed by a steam test on rollers in February 2022 before heading back to WRRR in March for testing under steam.

The prototype is named ‘William Francis’ after the son of the founder of the colliery and was the third locomotive to have this name. I decided I wanted to maintain the tradition of naming the locomotive but would like to remember Bruce Ward who carried out the design and initial construction of this model.

When operating under the control of a dispatcher, a locomotive number is preferred for easy identification, so I decided on #91 – my wife Angela’s birthday. Also this number did not appear to be assigned to any other locomotive within the SWLS family.

In the summer of 2025, the decision was made to convert the Garratt to propane while retaining the ability to easily convert back to coal if desired. The main drivers for this were the increasing restrictions on coal firing at various SWLS tracks and difficulty in sweeping the flues, especially when the boiler was hot: sweeping required the use of a ‘pull-through’ with one hand in the smoke box and the other in the fire box. The conversion process back to coal was proved out on the last day of the 2026 meet at Windy Ridge RR, taking roughly 1 hour from starting to lighting the charcoal and raising steam.