SAR GMA/M

Introduction

GMA/M no. 4065 with raised coal bunker sides at Bulawayo Locoshed, 15 April 1980. By Peter Bagshawe, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

I discovered the existence of Garratts in 1974 in a Dutch magazine which featured an article on the only ever Dutch Garratt, the LTM 51. I fell in love with that loco but also with Garratts in general and soon my interests went far and wide on all concerning Garratt. And it wasn't long before I stumbled over South Africa and of course its GMA/M.

I wanted to build it. Badly. But lacked the funds to realise the dream. When returned to the hobby I first wanted to acquire sufficient skils to build my own locomotives, so more years passed. The first Garratt I built was the NGG16 in OO9 later followed by an AD60. I accidentally ran into a second hand SAR GCA but the GMA/M idea rested waiting for a nice bargain to pass. Well it did not. In 2019 I read this anouncement on Precision Miniatures'website

(right). So I contacted DJH and obtained a kit from their current production run to secure one for me. It arrived on 28 June at the full price. The latter hurt but okay, c'est la vie.

Status of the project

28 June 2019

The kit has arrived, has been inspected and checked and repacked and stored for a future project