The EAR 59 class was a class of oil-fired gauge
Garratt-type
articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
steam locomotives. The 34 members of the class were built by
Beyer, Peacock & Co. in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England, for the
East African Railways (EAR). They entered service in 1955–56, and were the largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotives to operate on any metre gauge railway in the world.
Description
The locomotives had a wheel arrangement, weighed 252 tons, and delivered a tractive effort of . They were designed to haul 1,200-ton trains on 1.5% gradients and were the mainstay of freight services on the 330-mile run from Mombasa to Nairobi until the late 1970s.
During normal service the locomotives were manned by two regular crews on a 'caboose' basis, one working and one resting in a van with sleeping accommodation, changing over at eight-hour intervals.
The engines, many with Sikh drivers, were kept very clean and the cabs were polished and immaculate. The most famous was 5918 ''Mount Gelai'' with a devoted crew known as the 'Magnificent Foursome' who worked her for 16 years. The two drivers, Kirpal Singh and Walter Pinto, simply took their holidays when the locomotive went into the works at Nairobi for scheduled maintenance.
According to railway photographer Colin Garratt (in 1975), 'the overall condition of ''Mount Gelai'' is possibly unrivalled anywhere in the world today. Her cab interior is more akin to a Sikh temple than a locomotive footplate for its boiler face abounds in polished brasswork, embellished with mirrors, clocks, silver buckets and a linoleum floor'.
Withdrawals started in 1973, with the last locomotive (''Mount Gelai'') removed from service in April 1980 when it was driven by its long time driver, Kirpal Singh directly to the railway museum. Mr Singh retired from railway service the same day. Together with ''Mount Gelai, Mount Shengena'' was also saved from the scrapyard and both are now preserved by the
Nairobi Railway Museum.
In August 2001, ''Mount Gelai'' was removed from the Railway Museum, and towed to Kenya Railways main works for overhaul to operating condition. Between November 2001 and September 2005 the locomotive made three round trips to Mombasa hauling excursion trains. It was also used on at least one occasion to haul a freight train to Nairobi due to a diesel locomotive shortage. However, it has not operated outside the confines of Nairobi since 2005 and is unlikely to do so again due to operational restrictions and the at least partial replacement of Kenya's meter gauge () rail lines with standard gauge (
) lines.
In fiction
The 2018
Thomas & Friends
''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...
special ''Big World! Big Adventures!'' introduced the character Kwaku, who is based on the EAR 59 class.
Names
The locomotives were named after mountains in East Africa:
* 5901
Mount Kenya
* 5902
Ruwenzori Mountains
The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range ...
* 5903
Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...
* 5904
Mount Elgon
* 5905
Mount Muhavura
* 5906
Mount Sattima
* 5907
Mount Kinangop
Mount Kinangop (or Ilkinangop) is a mountain in the southern Aberdare Range about north of Nairobi, Kenya.
It is within the Aberdare National Park.
A dormant volcano, Kinangop overlooks the Kinangop Plateau to the west and the Great Rift Valley, ...
* 5908
Mount Loolmalasin
Mount Loolmalasin (sometimes spelled "Loolmalassin") is a mountain located in the Ngorongoro District of the Arusha Region, Tanzania. It has a peak elevation of above sea level. It is, after Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru, the third-highest m ...
* 5909
Mount Mgahinga
* 5910
Mount Hanang
* 5911
Mount Sekerri
* 5912
Mount Oldeani
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
* 5913
Mount Debasien
* 5914
Mount Londiani
* 5915
Mount Mtorwi
* 5916
Mount Rungwe
Mount Rungwe is a volcanic mountain in Mbeya Region, in Tanzania's Southern Highlands. At an altitude of , it is southern Tanzania's second-highest peak. Rungwe's volcano is currently inactive.
Geography
Rungwe stands at the junction of the e ...
* 5917
Mount Kitumbeine
* 5918
Mount Gelai - ''preserved at
Nairobi Railway Museum''
* 5919
Mount Lengai
* 5920
Mount Mbeya
* 5921
Mount Nyiru
* 5922
Mount Blackett
* 5923
Mount Longonot
Mount Longonot is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word ''Oloonong'ot'', meaning "mountains of man ...
* 5924
Mount Eburu
* 5925
Mount Monduli
* 5926
Mount Kimhandu
* 5927
Mount Tinderet
* 5928
Mount Kilimanjaro
* 5929
Mount Longido
Mount Longido is a mountain in Tanzania. The peak has an elevation of 2,637 m above sea level. Mount Longido is located in Longido District of Arusha Region.
The principal path to the summit starts in the town of Longido. The climb can be done in ...
* 5930
Mount Shengena - ''preserved at
Nairobi Railway Museum''
* 5931
Ulguru Mountains
* 5932
Ol'donyo Sabuk
* 5933
Mount Suswa
Mount Suswa is a shield volcano in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is located between Narok and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The northwestern part of Mount Suswa is in Narok County, while the eastern and southern part are in Kajiado County. ...
* 5934
Menengai Crater
Notes
References
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External links
Nairobi Railway Museum unofficial page
{{EAR locomotives, state=collapsed
Beyer, Peacock locomotives
4-8-2+2-8-4 locomotives
East African Railways locomotives
Steam locomotives of Kenya
Steam locomotives of Uganda
Garratt locomotives
Metre gauge steam locomotives
Freight locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1955