| East African Railways 56 class | |
| Powertype: | Steam |
| Builder: | Beyer, Peacock & Co. |
| Serialnumber: | 7280–7285 |
| Builddate: | 1949 |
| Totalproduction: | 6 |
| Whytetype: | (Garratt) |
| Uicclass: | (2′D1′)(1′D2′) h4 |
| Driverdiameter: | 480NaN0 |
| Fueltype: | Oil |
| Fuelcap: | 2382impgal |
| Watercap: | 4200impgal |
| Boilerpressure: | 2002NaN2 |
| Firearea: | 48.8sigfig=3NaNsigfig=3 |
| Tubearea: | 1753square feet |
| Fireboxarea: | 164square feet |
| Totalsurface: | 2287square feet |
| Superheatertype: | Inside |
| Superheaterarea: | 370square feet |
| Cylindercount: | 4 (Garratt) |
| Cylindersize: | 16x |
| Valvegear: | Walschaerts |
| Tractiveeffort: | 435202NaN2 |
| Locobrakes: | Westinghouse type |
| Trainbrakes: | Westinghouse type |
| Operator: | East African Railways (EAR) |
| Numinclass: | 6 |
| Firstrundate: | 1949 |
| Disposition: | All scrapped |
The EAR 56 class was a class of gauge Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Gorton, Manchester, England, in 1949. The six members of the class were ordered by the Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR) immediately after World War II, and were a slightly modified version of the KUR's existing EC5 class.
By the time the new locomotives were built and entered service, the KUR had been succeeded by the East African Railways (EAR), which designated them for a very short time as its EC6 class, but then, as part of a comprehensive reclassification of all of its locomotives, redesignated them as its 56 class.
The builder's and fleet numbers of each member of the class were as follows:
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