South African Class 3 4-8-2

The South African Railways Class 3 4-8-2 of 1909 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Natal Colony.

In 1909, the Natal Government Railways placed the world’s first true Mountain type locomotive in service, when five Class B 4-8-2 tender locomotives were commissioned. Twenty-five more were placed in service in 1911. In 1912, when they were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and designated Class 3. The Mountain wheel arrangement went on to become the most numerous steam locomotive wheel configuration in use in South Africa.^[1][2][3][4]

Manufacturer

With increasing coal traffic in Natal, the demand arose for more powerful locomotives. The Class B of 1909, also known as the Hendrie D, was a heavy 4-8-2 locomotive, designed by Natal Government Railways (NGR) Locomotive Superintendent D.A. Hendrie. They entered service in October 1909 and were put to work to handle coal traffic on the upper Natal mainline.^[2][3][4]

D.A. Hendrie

The locomotive design was based on Hendrie's Class B 4-8-0, in its modified form of 1906 as the Altered Hendrie B 4-8-2. This time, however, Hendrie made full use of the potential of the pony truck under the cab to carry additional weight, by positioning the firebox to the rear of the driving wheels, which made an improved grate and ashpan possible. To accomplish this, the plate frame was equipped with a bridle casting at the rear, to accommodate the larger firebox. Five locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) and delivered in 1909, numbered in the range from 330 to 334.^[2][4][5][6]

The first five locomotives were delivered with the first Type TJ tenders, which had a 6 long tons (6.1 tonnes) coal and 3,500 imperial gallons (15,900 litres) water capacity. They were put to work between Estcourt and Charlestown on the Transvaal border, where they regularly hauled loads of 225 long tons (229 tonnes), as well as fast perishable goods traffic. They proved to be highly successful in use, which led to an order for another 25 locomotives from NBL in 1910. These were delivered in 1911 and numbered in the range from 345 to 369 on the NGR roster. They were identical to the first batch of engines in all respects, except that they had Type TM tenders, which had an 8 long tons 5 hundredweight (8.4 tonnes) coal and 4,000 imperial gallons (18,200 litres) water capacity.^{[1][2][3][4][7]}

Characteristics

The locomotives were equipped with Pyle National Electric headlights. They were the world's first true Mountain type tender locomotives, having been designed and built with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, with the firebox positioned to the rear of the driving wheels. Earlier Natal 4-8-2 locomotives were modified from a different original wheel arrangement.^[8]

Hendrie's steam reversing gear

The boilers which were used on these locomotives were, at the time, the largest in South Africa. Like the altered NGR Class B of 1906 on which it was based, these loco­motives used saturated steam and had plate frames. They used Walschaerts valve gear with flat "D" gunmetal type valves, which were arranged above the cylinders and controlled by the Hendrie-designed steam reversing gear. Since they were built without superheaters, the bore of their slide valves were ¹⁄₂ inch (12.7 millimetres) larger than those on the altered Class B of 1906, to compensate for the additional weight of the locomotive.^[2][3][4][8]

The boiler, of which the barrel was ¹¹⁄₁₆ inch (17 millimetres) thick, was fitted with four Ramsbottom safety valves, 3 ¹⁄₂ inches (89 millimetres) in diameter. It was fed by two injectors, arranged on the underside of the footplate, at the sides, with the combination valves placed on the back of the firebox. The Belpaire firebox was constructed with a forward "rake" of the throat and back plates, to keep the distance between the boiler's tube plates reasonably short at 18 ft 6 in (5,639 mm). It had a finger bar firegrate, which was operated by hand lever from the cab.^[3]

South African Railways

When the Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways (Cape Government Railways, NGR and Central South African Railways) were united under a single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. Although the South African Railways and Harbours came into existence in 1910, with Sir William Hoy appointed as its first General Manager, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways required careful planning and was only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912.^{[1][7][9][10]}

Obsolete locomotives included, altogether 1,460 engines of 70 different types had to be classified and renumbered. Prior to Union, locomotive designs for the constituent railways primarily had to meet local requirements, since there had been no through running of engines between them. Union required a more general policy, even though local characteristics, such as severity of gradients and curvature and permissible axle loads, would never make it possible to produce a standard type of locomotive which would be capable of meeting all requirements. Nevertheless, standardisation was necessary on the new South African Railways (SAR) and Hoy estimated that fifteen standard locomotive types would be sufficient to cover all the varying conditions.^[9]

In March 1911, one of these new NGR locomotives, no. 368 of the 1911 batch, was used during comparative testing between locomotives of the constituent railways. It was brought up from Natal for testing against the Class 11 on the Witbank-Germiston coal line. The maximum load worked by the Class 11 was 900 short tons (816 tonnes), while the Natal locomotive was able to manage 1,246 short tons (1,130 tonnes) at practically the same coal consumption.^[9]

In 1912, these thirty Class B locomotives were renumbered in the range from 1446 to 1475 and designated Class 3 on the SAR.^[1][4]

Watson Standard boilers

In the 1930s, many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type, designed by then Chief Mechanical Engineer A.G. Watson, as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification number.^[4][6]

When twenty-nine of the Class 3 locomotives, all except no. 1457, were eventually reboilered with superheated Watson Standard no. 2 boilers, they were therefore reclassified to Class 3R. Their original Belpaire boilers were fitted with Ramsbottom safety valves, while the Watson Standard boiler was fitted with Pop safety valves. The most obvious visual difference between an original and a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive is usually a rectangular regulator cover on the reboilered locomotive, just to the rear of the chimney, but this was not always the case, as illustrated below. In the case of the Class 3R locomotive, an even more obvious visual distinction is the absence of the Belpaire firebox hump between the cab and the boiler.^[6][8]

By the late 1960s, towards the end of their service lives, the Class 3 was distributed between the Orange Free State and the Cape Western systems. By this time, they were all used on shunting and pickup service, mainly around Bloemfontein, Beaufort West, Touws River and Cape Town. By 1970, the entire Class was concentrated in the Cape Western region, where they were finally withdrawn from service in 1974.^[4]

Works numbers and renumbering

The Class 3 works numbers, years built, numbering and SAR classification are listed in the table.^[2][5][7]

Illustration

The main picture shows NGR Class B no. 334, later SAR Class 3R no. 1450, as built with a Belpaire firebox and Type TJ tender. Both of the following pictures show Watson Standard reboilered Class 3R locomotives with modified Type TJ tenders. The first has the usual spotting feature of a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive, the rectangular regulator cover just to the rear of the chimney, while the second has a bolted on cover plate instead, flush with the boiler cladding.^[6]

• 
  Reboilered Class 3R with the rectangular regulator cover, c. 1970
• 
  Reboilered Class 3R no. 1464 without the rectangular regulator cover, at Paardeneiland on 26 June 1962

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 3 (4-8-2).

Locomotives of Natal
4' 8½" gauge	Natal 0-4-0ST Durban Natal 0-4-0WT Natal Natal 4-4-0T Perseverance
3' 6" gauge	Durban's Congella Durban's Edward Innes Durban's John Milne Durban's Sir Albert NGR Class A 1905 NGR Class A 1910 NGR Class B 4-8-0 1904 NGR Class B 4-8-0 1910 NGR Class B 4-8-2 1906 NGR Class B 4-8-2 1909 NGR Class B 4-8-2 1910 NGR Class C 4-8-2T NGR Class C 4-10-2T NGR Class D NGR Class E NGR Class F NGR Class G NGR Class H 4-6-2T NGR Class H 4-6-4T NGR Class I 2-6-0 NGR Class I 2-6-2T NGR Class K 0-4-0ST NGR Class K 0-6-0ST NGR Class K 2-6-0T NGR Class L 4-8-0 NGR Durban & Pietermaritzburg NGR Havelock NGR Mallet 1909 NGR Mallet 1910
2' gauge	NGR Class N 1906 NGR Class N 1907 NGR Class N 1911
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive history

Locomotives of South Africa
Steam	7' ¼" gauge East London 0-4-0VB Table Bay 0-4-0ST Table Bay 0-4-0T Table Bay 0-4-0WT 4' 8½" gauge Cape 0-4-0T Blackie Cape 0-4-2 Cape 2-4-0T CGR 0-4-0ST Aid Natal 0-4-0ST Durban Natal 0-4-0WT Natal Natal 4-4-0T Perseverance 3' 6" gauge Tank engines CGR 0-4-0ST 1873 CGR 0-4-0ST 1874 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 Coffee Pot CGR 0-6-0ST CGR 0-6-0T CGR 2-6-0ST 1900 CGR 2-6-0ST 1902 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1875 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1876 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0ST CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T CGR 2nd Class 4-4-0T CGR 3rd Class 2-6-0T CGR Railmotor CSAR Class C CSAR Class E CSAR Rack 4-6-4RT CSAR Railmotor Durban's Congella Durban's Edward Innes Durban's John Milne Durban's Sir Albert Port Elizabeth 0-4-0ST Kowie Railway 0-6-0T Kowie Railway 4-4-0T Metropolitan & Suburban 4-6-2T NGR 2-6-0T Durban & Pietermaritzburg NGR Class I 2-6-2T NGR Class K 0-4-0ST NGR Class K 0-6-0ST NGR Class K 2-6-0T NZASM 10 Tonner NZASM 13 Tonner NZASM 14 Tonner NZASM 18 Tonner NZASM 19 Tonner NZASM 32 Tonner NZASM 40 Tonner PPR 26 Tonner PPR 35 Tonner Portuguese SAR Class A SAR Class B SAR Class C SAR Class C1 SAR Class C2 SAR Class D SAR Class E SAR Class F SAR Class G SAR Class H SAR Class H1 SAR Class H2 SAR Class J SAR Class K SAR Railmotor SAR Dock 0-4-0ST SAR Dock 0-4-0T SWA 2-8-0T 3' 6" gauge Tender engines CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 BP CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Kitson CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1879 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1891 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0TT CGR 2nd Class 2-6-2TT CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1883 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1884 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1898 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1901 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1903 CGR 4th Class 4-4-2 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1880 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 Joy CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1884 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1890 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1891 NGR Havelock NGR Class I SAR Class Exp 1 SAR Class Exp 2 SAR Class Exp 3 SAR Class Exp 4 SAR Class Exp 5 SAR Class Exp 6 SAR Class S SAR Class S1 SAR Class S2 SAR Class 1 SAR Class 1A SAR Class 1B SAR Class 2 SAR Class 2C SAR Class 3 SAR Class 3A SAR Class 3B SAR Class 4 SAR Class 4A SAR Class 5 SAR Class 5A SAR Class 5B SAR Class 6 SAR Class 6A SAR Class 6B SAR Class 6C SAR Class 6D SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6F SAR Class 6G SAR Class 6H SAR Class 6J SAR Class 6K SAR Class 6L SAR Class 6Y SAR Class 6Z SAR Class 7 SAR Class 7A SAR Class 7B SAR Class 7C SAR Class 7D SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7F SAR Class 8 SAR Class 8A SAR Class 8B SAR Class 8C SAR Class 8D SAR Class 8E SAR Class 8F SAR Class 8R SAR Class 8X SAR Class 8Y SAR Class 8Z SAR Class 9 SAR Class 10 SAR Class 10A SAR Class 10B SAR Class 10C SAR Class 10D SAR Class 11 SAR Class 12 SAR Class 12A SAR Class 12B SAR Class 13 SAR Class 14 SAR Class 14A SAR Class 14B SAR Class 14C 1st SAR Class 14C 2nd SAR Class 14C 3rd SAR Class 14C 4th SAR Class 15 SAR Class 15A SAR Class 15B SAR Class 15C SAR Class 15CA SAR Class 15E SAR Class 15F SAR Class 16 SAR Class 16A SAR Class 16B SAR Class 16C SAR Class 16D SAR Class 16DA 1928 SAR Class 16DA 1930 SAR Class 16E SAR Class 17 SAR Class 18 SAR Class 19 SAR Class 19A SAR Class 19B SAR Class 19C SAR Class 19D SAR Class 20 SAR Class 21 SAR Class 23 SAR Class 24 SAR Class 25 SAR Class 25NC SAR Class 26 SAR Katanga SWA 2-8-0 3' 6" gauge Articulated engines CGR Fairlie CGR Kitson-Meyer SAR Class FC SAR Class FD SAR Class GA SAR Class GB SAR Class GC SAR Class GCA SAR Class GD SAR Class GDA SAR Class GE SAR Class GEA SAR Class GF SAR Class GG SAR Class GH SAR Class GK SAR Class GL SAR Class GM SAR Class GMA SAR Class GO SAR Class HF SAR Class KM SAR Class MA SAR Class MB SAR Class MC SAR Class MC1 SAR Class MD SAR Class ME SAR Class MF SAR Class MG SAR Class MH SAR Class MJ SAR Class MJ1 SAR Class U 2' 6" gauge Cape Copper John King & Miner Cape Copper Britannia Cape Copper Caledonia Cape Copper Clara Cape Copper Condenser Cape Copper Scotia Namaqua Copper Pioneer Walvis Bay 2-4-2T Hope 2' & 600mm gauges ACR Class NG-G16A CGR NG 0-4-0T CGR NG 0-6-0T CGR NG 4-6-2T CGR Type A 2-6-4T CGR Type C 0-4-0T NGR Class N 4-6-2T SAR Dutton SAR NG 0-4-0T SAR Class NG1 SAR Class NG2 SAR Class NG3 SAR Class NG4 SAR Class NG5 SAR Class NG6 SAR Class NG7 SAR Class NG8 SAR Class NG9 SAR Class NG10 SAR Class NG-G11 SAR Class NG-G12 SAR Class NG-G13 SAR Class NG-G14 SAR Class NG15 SAR Class NG-G16 SWA Class Ha SWA Class Hb SWA Class Hc SWA Class Hd SWA Jung SWA Zwillinge
Electric	Amcoal Class E38 SAR Class ES SAR Class ES1 SAR Class Exp-AC SAR Class 1E SAR Class 2E SAR Class 3E SAR Class 4E SAR Class 5E s1 SAR Class 5E s2 SAR Class 5E s3 SAR Class 5E1 s1 SAR Class 5E1 s2 SAR Class 5E1 s3 SAR Class 5E1 s4 SAR Class 5E1 s5 SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6E1 s1 SAR Class 6E1 s2 SAR Class 6E1 s3 SAR Class 6E1 s4 SAR Class 6E1 s5 SAR Class 6E1 s6 SAR Class 6E1 s7 SAR Class 6E1 s8 SAR Class 6E1 s9 SAR Class 6E1 s10 SAR Class 6E1 s11 SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7E1 SAR Class 7E2 s1 SAR Class 7E2 s2 SAR Class 7E3 s1 SAR Class 7E3 s2 Spoornet Class 7E4 SAR Class 8E SAR Class 9E s1 SAR Class 9E s2 SAR Class 10E SAR Class 10E1 s1 Spoornet Class 10E1 s2 SAR Class 10E2 SAR Class 11E SAR Class 12E Spoornet Class 14E Spoornet Class 14E1 TFR Class 15E Spoornet Class 16E Spoornet Class 17E Spoornet Class 18E s1 TFR Class 18E s2 TFR Class 19E TFR Class 20E TFR Class 21E TFR Class 22E
Gas-electric	SAR Gas-electric
Diesel	3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 TFR Class 35-800 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000 2' gauge Diesel-electric SAR Class 91-000 3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic SAR Class 61-000 3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel Spoornet Class 38-000
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive numbering and classification

South African steam locomotive tenders
Cape gauge	Type CL Type CZ Type ET Type ET1 Type EW Type EW1 Type EW2 Type FT Type GT Type HT Type JT Type JT1 Type JV Type KT Type LP Type MP Type MP1 Type MR Type MS Type MT Type MT1 Type MT2 Type MX Type MY Type MY1 Type SH Type SK Type TJ Type TL Type TM Type WE Type WG Type X-17 Type X-20 Type XC Type XC1 Type XD Type XE Type XE1 Type XF Type XF1 Type XF2 Type XJ Type XM Type XM1 Type XM2 Type XM3 Type XM4 Type XP1 Type XS Type YB Type YC Type YE Type YE1 Type ZA Type ZB Type ZC Type ZE
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive history