Free DeliveryFree Delivery when you Subscribe to Narrow Gauge World... and never miss an issue !

NGW HOTLINE: Tel: 0870 787 9816 (UK) +44 1795 414 965 (overseas) e-mail: ngw@galleon.co.uk

YOU CAN FAX YOUR ORDER 01795 414555

SUBSCRIPTION ORDERFORM REF:NGW52

^ I wish to subscribe to NARROW GAUGE WORLDfor 6 issues (1 year)

^ £23.70 UK ^ £31.00 Rest of Europe ^ £35.50 Outside Europe

Title.................Name........................................................................................

Address...............................................................................................................

............................................................................Postcode.................................

Telephone........................................................................................................

E-mail.................................................................................................................

GIFT SUBSCRIPTION (recipients details)

Title.................Name........................................................................................

Address...............................................................................................................

............................................................................Postcode.................................

Telephone..........................................................................................................

^ I enclose a cheque/Postal Order made payable to Atlantic Publishers.

(please write your name and address on the back)

^ Please charge my credit card ^ Visa ^ Mastercard ^ Switch ^ Delta ^ Debit

Card No.

Valid from /

Expiry date /

Security Code

Issue No. (where applicable)

Signature..............................................................Date......................

^ I wish to pay by direct debit (only available to UK residents): £11.85 Twice Yearly ^ £23.70 Annually ^ (please fill in the form below)

Subscribe securely on line at www.atlanticpublishers.com

Subscribe securely on line at www.atlanticpublishers.com or...

Published BI-MONTHLY on the last Friday of the month preceding

CALLOUR ORDER HOTLINE NOW! Tel: 0870 787 9816 UK +44 1795 414 965 overseas If you do not wish to cut your magazine, p lease photocopy this coupon



PUBLI SHERS

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit

Please fill in the form and send to: GARDEN RAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS PO Box 326, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8BR

Please fill in the form and send to: NARROW GAUGE WORLD SUBSCRIPTIONS PO Box 326, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8BR

Originator’s Identification Number

6 4 5 7 7 6

Name and full postal address of your Bank or Building Society

To: The Manager

Bank/Building Society

Address

Name(s) of Account Holder(s)

Branch Sort Code

Bank/Building Society account number

Reference (Office use only)

Postcode

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society Please pay ATLANTIC EDITIONS LTD Direct Debits from the account detailed in this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with ATLANTIC EDITIONS LTD and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bank/ Building Society.

Signature(s)

Date

Banks and Building Societies may not accept Direct Debit Instructions for some types of account.

Please fill in the form and send to: NARROW GAUGE WORLD SUBSCRIPTIONS PO Box 326, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8BR

I wish to receive further information from Atlantic Publishers FIRST LINES Quotable Quotes

No apologies should be needed for returning to the ever-popular theme of Garratt locomotives in this issue. Indicative of their perennial fascination is the fact that few back numbers covering this unique breed of motive power are still available. But that begs the question as to exactly why they command such a following among both prototype enthusiasts and modellers. Students of Freud will no doubt cite the ‘wiggle’ factor and allude to a locomotive moving in all sorts of directions at the same time as it slinks along curvaceous tracks. They may have a point, although

there are certainly variations on the same theme. Brian Fawcett, best-known for his groundbreaking book Railways of the Andes, perceptively wrote in the June 1955 issue of Trains: ‘The bucking engines beneath the tanks heel and sway in opposite directions but the fat boiler slung between them – like a comatose Roman patrician in his litter – scarcely cants.’ Most locomotives since the dawn of steam have been addressed as ‘she’, but the term ‘fat boiler’ is scarcely petite or feminine. Perversely, there is in fact something massively masculine about a Garratt in full cry as it makes light of a train stretching

away to the far horizon. It was captured in 1966 by the outstanding writer David P. Morgan: ‘Someday, perhaps, someone will do a sociological study of the Garratt. It will dwell on the economic effort of the creature, noting that one Garratt could work 500 tons up 2.5 per cent on the same 60 pound rail over which displaced 4-8-0s could only haul 230 tons. And the conclusiondrawn will explain more about the why and wherefore of Africa today than a hundred TV reports from the UN.’ Earlier the same writer had commented that ‘English Electric and GE salesmen are doing to the Garratts of Africa what the ivory hunters did to the elephants of the same continent’. At about the same time Allen Jorgensen declared: ‘You haven’t seen a steam locomotive until you’ve seen a woodburning Garratt at night.’ So there you have it! A combination of heeling and swaying, supreme effort, endangered species and delights in the dark. Take your pick – or send alternative suggestions on a postcard to any magazine bar this one. Readers curious as to the source of the above quotations should seek out a captivating new book by Andrew Dow, former Head of the National Railway Museum. International in concept, Dow’s Dictionary of Railway Quotationshas been published in Baltimore, USA, and arguably has not received the attention in the UK that it deserves. Featuring over 3,400 quotations, it is in many ways the ultimate ‘dip into’ railway book to occupy odd moments of free time. The narrow gauge is not over represented, but does include memorable words by such literary luminaries as Arnold Bennett, John Betjeman, T.E. Lawrence and Paul Theroux. Every reader will have particular favourites, as well as bewailing omissions such as D.H. Lawrence’s impressions of mixed-train travel in Sardinia. Personal preferences are W.H. Hutchinson’s evocative description of the sound of a Shay – ‘a rolling stack blast like a helper mallet singing alto’ – and an eyewitness account of narrow gauge track being lifted following abandonment: ‘It’s like cutting down a sturdy oak tree to make room for a hot dog stand.’

David Joy

Japanese 88620 on the turntable. Trevor Ridley 07

Dow’s Dictionary of Railway Quotationsis available in the UK through Midland Counties Publications, price £30. Phone 01455 254450, or order via their website: www.midlandcountiessuperstore.com

NARROW GAUGE WORLD – N0 52 ■5