South African Class 19B 4-8-2
No. 1412 taking water at Blouwater, c. 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The South African Railways Class 19B 4-8-2 of 1930 is a steam locomotive.
In 1930 the South African Railways placed fourteen Class 19B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service. One of them was later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19BR.[1][2]
Manufacturer
The South African Class 19B 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotive was a later model of the original Class 19. It was virtually identical to the Class 19 apart from the wheelbase of the front bogie, which had been increased from 6 feet 2 inches (1,880 millimetres) to 6 feet 4 inches (1,930 millimetres) in order to improve the clearance between the cylinders and the bogie wheels, since the bogie wheels of predecessors Class 19 and Class 19A fouled the cylinder covers on sharp curves. Because of this difference they were classified as Class 19B.[1][3]
They were built in Germany by Berliner Maschinenbau AG (BMAG), the former L. Schwartzkopff, and delivered in 1930, numbered in the range from 1401 to 1414. All but one were built with Walschaerts valve gear.[1][4]
Number 1414 was equipped with Caprotti valve gear as an experiment. After thirteen years, however, the Caprotti valve gear was removed at the Uitenhage workshops in 1943 and replaced with Walschaerts valve gear. The experiment did result in the successor Class 19C being built with Rotary Cam Poppet valve gear.[1][4]
Watson Standard boilers
From the 1930s many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by then Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) A.G. Watson as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.[2][4]
When Class 19B no. 1410 was reboilered with a Watson Standard no. 1A boiler, it therefore became the sole Class 19BR. It was not equipped with a Watson cab with its distinctive slanted front in the process, but retained its original vertical fronted cab. It did, however, have the tell-tale rectangular regulator cover just to the rear of the chimney that identified it as a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive.[2][4]
Service
South African Railways
Some Class 19B locomotives served around Cape Town and between Kimberley and Vryburg, but most of them spent their working lives on the line between Graaff Reinet and Rosmead across the Lootsberg Pass, until they were eventually replaced by Class 19D locomotives. A couple were also allocated to Sydenham in Port Elizabeth and occasionally worked on the Grahamstown branch. By 1977 they were all withdrawn from service.[4][5]
Industrial
After being retired from SAR service, several were sold into a second career in industrial service.[5]
- Number 1402 went to New Largo Colliery in Transvaal and later to the Enyati Railway.
- Numbers 1407 and 1409 went to Lorraine Gold Mine in the Orange Free State.
- Numbers 1410 and 1411 went to the Free State Geduld Gold Mine as numbers 8 and 7 respectively. They later became Freegold North numbers 10 and 11.
- Number 1413 went to the Fluor for Sasol plant in Transvaal.
Illustration
When retired, no. 1412 was initially plinthed at Middelburg in the Cape Province and later restored. The main picture shows the Transnet National Collection’s preserved Class 19B no. 1412 taking water at Blouwater before piloting a Class GMAM Garratt and the Union Express across the Lootsberg Pass, c. 2001.[5]
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No. 1413 at Secunda with Sasol-applied smoke deflectors, c. 1980
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A Class 19B on a Cape Town suburban train, c. 1940
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Class 19B "Daisy" on a passenger train, taking water, c. 1940
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Type MR tender on no. 1412, Voorbaai, 19 October 2009
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Reboilered Class 19BR no. 1410 at Sydenham, Port Elizabeth
References
- 1 2 3 4 Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
- 1 2 3 South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2’0” & 3’6” Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, pp21 & 21A, as amended
- ↑ Secunda, Sasol Synfuels East, ex-SAR Class 19B No 1413
- 1 2 3 4 5 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 8, 10–11, 71. ISBN 0869772112.
- 1 2 3 Durrant, A E (1989). Twilight of South African Steam (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, London: David & Charles. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0715386387.
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