South African Class 1A 4-8-0

In 1910 the Natal Government Railways placed twenty-one Improved Hendrie B 4-8-0 tender locomotives in service. In 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and classified as Class 1A.^[1][4][6]

Manufacturer

By 1909 more locomotives were required for goods operation on the lower sections of the Natal main line and a further twenty-one locomotives of the Class Hendrie B 4-8-0 design were ordered by the Natal Government Railways (NGR). They were delivered by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) and placed in service in 1910, numbered NGR 13 to 33. Since they incorporated various improvements, they became known as the Class Improved Hendrie B.^[6]

Like their predecessors, they had Belpaire fireboxes and Walschaerts valve gear. Their boilers had been raised by 1.25 inches (31.8 millimetres), raising the boiler centre line to 7 feet 4.25 inches (2.242 metres) to give a better rake on the sides of the ash pan. They were built with Hendrie’s steam reversers and, like the earlier Hendrie B locomotives, all but one used slide valves. The exception was the last locomotive, number 33, which was fitted with piston valves.^[1]

In 1912, when these "Mastodons" were taken onto the roster of the South African Railways (SAR), they were renumbered 1289 to 1309 and classified as Class 1A.^[1][4][6]

Service

When new, they were used to haul fast passenger and goods trains between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. In SAR service they were also used on main line workings out of Port Elizabeth. In later years they were relegated to shunting, particularly working in Natal but also in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and in the Transvaal.^[6][7]

In their last years, however, few Class 1 and Class 1A locomotives were still at work. As at April 1973, for example, there were still three working at Mason’s Mill in Pietermaritzburg and one in the Eastern Transvaal, two of them Class 1A. The last Class 1A was retired in November 1974.^[7]

In industrial service, number 1301 survived even longer and was still in service in 1984 as Apex Mines number 3 at Greenside.^[7]

See also

• South African Class 1 4-8-0
• South African Class 1B 4-8-2
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification
• The 4-8-0 "Mastodon"
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 1: 1859-1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 99-101. ISBN 0715353829. 
2. ^ North British Locomotive Company works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser
3. ^ South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2’0” & 3’6” Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended
4. ^ ^{a b c} Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 7, 12, 15, 44 (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)
5. ^ Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. p. 137. ISBN 0715354272. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 34-35. ISBN 0869772112. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Durrant, A E (1989). Twilight of South African Steam (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, London: David & Charles. p. 54. ISBN 0715386387.