Aster and LGB - # 20922

The next Aster/LGB model was presented in 2001, the Aster NGG13 Garratt steam loco:

LGB 20922 - Courtesy of brasstrains.com

As before, the brass loco came in a wooden box, all engines/boxes were individually numbered. Packaging was (dual) LGB Styrofoam box in wooden box

LGB 20922 original packaging - Courtesy of Only Trains

Edition volume was 600 of which some were outfitted with (LGB factory installed) digital decoders. This Garratt came wonderfully equipped with (quoting Only Trains website)

Features:

Limited Run - Serial #116 / 600 - C.O.A. Included

Brass Construction

Factory Painted

Complete Cab Interior and individual gauges, valves and levers

Detailed boiler, with authentic domes, piping and handrails

2 seven-pole Buhler motors

Twelve powered wheels

Smoke Generator

Simulated Fire-box fire

Automatic directional front and rear lights

Cab Interior Lighting

Digital Electronic Sounds: synchronized steam chuffs, bell, whistle, brake, steam release, conductor announcement, etc.

Removable coal load

Length: 787mm (31 inches)

Weight: 6300grams (13.8 Lbs)

Information Booklet included

Spare Parts, Couplers, Track Magnets, Smoke Oil all included

Original Wooden Box and Packing Included

The initial price at time of first sale was US$ 3,000.00 (estimated), German DM 5,999.00 and US$ 3,300.00(?) for the digital version. But the US market would soon find the loco so attractive that prices would surge up to US$ 4,500.00. The price would stay high throughout the years.

Surprisingly the LGB advertising for this beautiful engine was again dismal. Besides being presented in the main catalog 2001, pg 79 the only other mentioning was in the "INFO 2001" LGBoA edition. Repeating last year's (2000) mindless 'advertising'  LGB lost the 20922 NGG 13 Garratt  on page 2 of 4 brochure pages :

page 2 of 4 INFO 2001 brochure - "Find the Garratt...."

The archetype to this engine was the Garrat NG G13 of the Schinznach Nursery RR (Schinznacher Baumschulbahn) in Switzerland

Garratt NG G13 - Courtesy of the "Verein Schinznacher Baumschul Bahn"

The Schinznach Nursery RR bought the NG G13 No. 60 from the (successor?) South African Railways in the 1980's. Though it had to be repaired/restored the engine was still operational. As of 2017 the "Drakensberg" is on loan to the Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales/England and will again be in service.

The NG G 13 No 60 in Wales
Courtesy of http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/

Originally built in 1927 by the German company HANOMAG for the South African Railway, the Garratt was always built for 600mm narrow gauge - first to haul fruit and cane (sugar) from fields later replaced by Diesel locos. Her engineering design made it possible to work through very tight curves, up to 3% gradients/slopes all the while carrying very heavy loads. Even though the British had the patent on the (Beyer) Garratt South Africa had no inkling to have the British benefit from loco orders after the Boer wars and hence contracted with HANOMAG which changed the British design to the extent that operation tolerated narrow, tight and steep tracks and very heavy loads. But that came at the expense of the engineer and stoker. The cabins were small and eerily overheated by steam turret, vacuum brake ejector and sight-feed lubricator placed inside the cabin. The men sat on movable pin stools so it became a common sight to see a Garratt with their engineers hanging outside the cabins.....

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++to be continued.................................