South African Class NG9 4-6-0

South African Class NG9 4-6-0

Class NG9, c. 1930
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Designer Baldwin Locomotive Works
Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works
Serial number 42301-42306
Build date 1915
Total produced 6
Specifications
Configuration 4-6-0 (Tenwheeler)
Driver 2nd coupled axle
Gauge 2 ft (610 mm) narrow
Leading dia. 22 in (559 mm)
Coupled dia. 33 in (838 mm)
Tender wheels 22 in (559 mm)
Wheelbase 36 ft 10 in (11,227 mm)
  Engine 13 ft 1 in (3,988 mm)
  Leading 4 ft (1,219 mm)
  Coupled 6 ft 3 in (1,905 mm)
  Tender 13 ft 7 in (4,140 mm)
  Tender bogie 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm)
Wheel spacing
(Assymetrical)
1-2: 3 ft 3 in (991 mm)
2-3: 3 ft (914 mm)
Length:
  Over couplers 44 ft 4 38 in (13,522 mm)
Height 10 ft 4 14 in (3,156 mm)
Axle load 5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg)
  Leading 4 LT (4,064 kg)
  1st coupled 5 LT 7 cwt (5,436 kg)
  2nd coupled 5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg)
  3rd coupled 5 LT 2 cwt (5,182 kg)
  Tender bogie 10 LT 6 cwt (10,470 kg)
  Tender axle 5 LT 3 cwt (5,233 kg) average
Adhesive weight 16 LT 5 cwt (16,510 kg)
Loco weight 20 LT 5 cwt (20,570 kg)
Tender weight 20 LT 16 cwt 2 qtr (21,160 kg)
Total weight 41 LT 1 cwt 2 qtr (41,730 kg)
Tender type 2-axle bogies
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity 5 LT (5.1 t)
Water cap 1,250 imp gal (5,680 l)
Firebox type Round-top
  Firegrate area 7.5 sq ft (0.70 m2)
Boiler:
  Pitch 4 ft 8 516 in (1,430 mm)
  Diameter 3 ft 2 18 in (968 mm)
  Tube plates 10 ft 8 in (3,251 mm)
  Small tubes 67: 2 in (51 mm)
Boiler pressure 180 psi (1,241 kPa)
Heating surface 424.4 sq ft (39.43 m2)
  Tubes 381 sq ft (35.4 m2)
  Firebox 43.4 sq ft (4.03 m2)
Cylinders Two
Cylinder size 11 34 in (298 mm) bore
16 in (406 mm) stroke
Valve gear Walschaerts
Valve type Slide
Couplers Bell lift-hook
Performance figures
Tractive effort 9,036 lbf (40.19 kN) @ 75%
Career
Operators South African Railways
Moçâmedes Railway
Class Class NG9
Number in class 6
Numbers NG42-NG47
Delivered 1915-1916
First run 1915
Withdrawn 1951
The 2nd coupled axle had flangeless wheels

The South African Railways Class NG9 4-6-0 of 1915 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive.

During 1915 and 1916, the South African Railways placed six steam locomotives with a 4-6-0 Tenwheeler type wheel arrangement in service on the Langkloof narrow gauge line. When a system of grouping narrow gauge locomotives into classes was eventually introduced somewhere between 1928 and 1930, they were classified as Class NG9.[1][2]

Manufacturer

Due to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the usual British locomotive suppliers were hard pressed to satisfy British requirements at the time, let alone those of other parts of the world. As a result, the South African Railways (SAR) placed an order with the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the United States of America in 1915, for six narrow gauge locomotives with a 4-6-0 Tenwheeler type wheel arrangement. The six engines were all built by August 1915 and were delivered to the SAR in 1915 and 1916, numbered NG42 to NG47.[1][2]

Characteristics

The locomotives were very similar to the Bagnall-built Type B locomotives, which had been delivered to the Cape Government Railways (CGR) in 1903, except that they were equipped with Walschaerts valve gear.[1]

Service

South African Railways

They were erected at the Uitenhage workshops and placed in service on the Langkloof line between Port Elizabeth and Avontuur in the Eastern Cape, where they all remained in service until 1929, although some were at one time also employed to help out on the line from Kalbaskraal to Saldanha in the Western Cape.[1][2]

The first two locomotives, numbers NG42 and NG43, were withdrawn from service in 1929. In that same year, numbers NG44 and NG46 were transferred to Upington to work on the branchline to Kakamas. The last remaining one of these locomotives on the Avontuur line, no. NG45, was relieved from line work and retained at Humewood Road in Port Elizabeth for yard duties until 1939, when it was also transferred to Upington.[1][2]

The system of grouping narrow gauge locomotives into classes was only adopted by the SAR somewhere between 1928 and 1930 and, at that point, these locomotives were designated Class NG9.[1][3]

Moçâmedes Railway

Three of the six locomotives, numbers NG44, NG45 and NG46, survived in SAR service until April 1951, when they were sold to the Caminhos de Ferro de Moçâmedes (CFM) of Angola.[1][4]

They were numbered 111 to 113 on the CFM, apparently not in the same order as their old SAR engine numbers, and were placed in service on the Ramal da Chibía, a 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in) narrow gauge branchline across 116 kilometres (72 miles) from Sá da Bandeira (now Lubango) to Chiange.[4]

CF Moçâmedes no. 111 (right) and possibly no. 113 (left), at the Sa da Bandeira shops, Angola, 7 August 1972

This branch was opened in two stages in 1949 and 1953. It is believed the three loco­motives also worked on the mainline from Moçâmedes (now Namibe) to Sá da Bandeira, until that line was regauged to Cape gauge in the mid-1950s.[4]

They were possibly retired at about this time, being replaced on the branchline by 60-Series 0-8-2T locomotives, which were released by the regauging of the mainline. In later years, these 0-8-2T locomotives were equipped with the NG9 tenders to increase their wood and water carrying capacity.[4]

The Class NG9 locomotives were observed dumped at the Sá da Bandeira shops by 1969, without their tenders. At the time, it appeared as if they had been in that condition for some time. The branchline itself was closed in 1970.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 104, 110. ISBN 0869772112.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1945). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1945. p. 782.
  3. South African Railways and Harbours Narrow Gauge Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" Gauge, S.A.R. Mechanical Dept. Drawing Office, Pretoria, 28 November 1932
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Information supplied by Peter Bagshawe
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