shunting on the SAR

[ge_rik]

I'm always interested in seeing how shunting operations were carried out on real NG railways, so when my near neighbour (Clive) sent me this video he'd discovered of a Garratt shunting on the SAR, I was intrigued.



What surprised and pleased me was the pace at which the manoeuvre was carried out. Very reassuring that similar operations on the PLR can often be done at a lick!

Clive, who grew up as the son of a station master on one of the SAR 2' lines, has been making a 3D printed model of one of the Garratts which steamed past on a regular basis. He tells me that his cousin's husband worked on the railway and developed a knack of aligning the chopper couplings during shunting by using his foot. ...... He lost his foot! Clive says - "He wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box"

Rik

[Old Man Aaron]

I see your point re: shunting speeds. Surprisingly quick. Beats pushing 5 minutes doing a scale run around at a crawl.
I wouldn't be game to stand between wagons to couple up at any speed, never mind putting appendages anywhere near it!