K1 Tasmanian Garratt

History of the K1 an K2

The K class were the first Garratts to be designed en supplied on the basis of the the patent applied for by Herbert William Garratt. The basic principle is described in my Articulation section, so no nee to repeat it here. Two of the class were designed by Beyer Peacock and delivered to the Tasmanian Government Railways in 1909. The class consisted of only those two (K1 and.....K2!), the order was never repeated. The class served the North East Dundas Tramway. It is the only class of Beyer Garratts to have the cylinder facing inward. The next design already used cylinders facing outward and that never changed

When then the line was closed in 1929 the loco's went their way, but long story short, some of the parts returned to its builder in the UK. As the (Beyer-) Garratt had become an economical success and was sold world wide, the historic significance of the parts was recognised and the available parts of both loco's were combined to form a new K1. After cosmetic restoration it spent many years in the National Railway Museum in York. IN. In 2004 it was restored to working order at the Boston Lodge workshop at the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway and entered passenger service in 2007 until 2014 when its boiler certificate expired. In 2019 it went to the Statfold Barn Railway.