Originally Posted by ecotourist
That is an amazing engine. I've never seen anything like it. It appears to be a single unit. How would you describe it? 4-8-4-8-4?
4-8-4+4-8-4
The boiler and the operators are suspended in the middle section that's articulated like a semi...there's an (used to be) asbestos flexible coupler under the cabin that if it lets go makes life "difficult" for the crew.
Due to the arrangement, here, there were tunnels that could only be traversed backwards, as they had a habit of cooking the drivers with coal smoke.
Here's that one...
and back in the day..
Apparently they still ran in Zimbabwe into the '90s.