"Interesting that the Garratt concept did not get a look see here in the states."

It did gwt a look, or at least a glance. While I can't definitively remember where I came across the information, I believe it was in some Baldwin corporate records at the Railroad Museum of PA.

ALCO held the rights to build locomotives under Garratt's patents in the US, and made some effort to market the "Super-Garratt" (aka "Mallet Garratt") concept here. A Super Garratt was a Garratt with each engine unit sub-divided in two like a Mallet. For example one proposed wheel arrangement was a 2-6-6-2+2-6-6-2.



Apparently interest in such monster engines dwindled after the failure of the Triplex designs, but all indications are a Super Garratt would have been a far superior locomotive, and there are no technical reasons one wouldn't have worked.

For those interested in another Garratt thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35415
Look out there's a T1 version