South African Class 6 4-6-0

In 1893 and 1894 the Cape Government Railways placed forty Class 6 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service, twenty-two on its Western System and eighteen on its Midland System. In 1897 ten of them were sold to the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwermentspoorwegen. At the end of the Second Boer War in 1901, these ten became the Class 6-L1 on the Central South African Railways. In 1912, when all forty locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered but retained their Class 6 classification.^[1][3][4]

Manufacturer

The Class 6 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotive was designed at the Salt River works of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) at the same time as the Class 7, both according to the specifications of Michael Stephens, then Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CGR’s Western System, and under the supervision of CGR Locomotive Superintendent H.M. Beatty. Whereas the Class 7 was conceived primarily as a goods locomotive, the Class 6 was intended to be its fast passenger service counterpart.^[1]

The forty locomotives were built by Dübs and Company and delivered between 1893 and 1894, numbered 139 to 160 for the Western System and 353 to 370 for the Midland System. Fourteen of the Midland System’s eighteen locomotives were later renumbered.^[1]

The Class 6 locomotives were the forerunners of one of the most useful classes of locomotives to see service in South Africa. They were fast, easy to handle, good steamers and had an exceptionally low maintenance cost with long periods between major overhauls. They were so advanced over previous designs that C.B. Elliot, General Manager of the CGR at the time, stated in his annual report in 1894 that they would render practicable the running of passenger trains between Cape Town and Johannesburg in 48 hours.^[1]

Class 6 sub-classes

When these forty locomotives were assimilated into the newly established South African Railways (SAR) in 1912, after some had also seen service on the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwermentspoorwegen (OVGS), the Imperial Military Railways (IMR) and the Central South African Railways (CSAR), they were renumbered 401 to 440, but they retained their Class 6 classification.^[4][5]

The rest of the CGR’s Class 6 locomotives, together with the Class 6-L2 and 6-L3 locomotives inherited by the CSAR from the OVGS via the IMR, were grouped into thirteen more sub-classes by the SAR. The 4-6-0 locomotives became SAR Classes 6A to 6H and 6J to 6L, the 2-6-2 locomotives became SAR Class 6Y and the 2-6-4 locomotives became Class 6Z.^[2]

Modifications

Several of the CSAR’s Class 6L1 to 6-L3 locomotives were modified by P.A Hyde, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the CSAR, by having their round top fireboxes replaced with larger boilers and Belpaire fireboxes and by having larger, more sheltered cabs installed. Of the SAR Class 6 locomotives, only ex CSAR Class 6-L1 336, renumbered SAR 401, had undergone this modification. This conversion improved their performance tremendously and resulted in several of the Class 6, 6A and 6B locomotives being similarly modified by the SAR in later years, but without altering their classifications.^[3][4]

During the 1930s many of them were modified once again, when the CME of the SAR at the time, A.G. Watson, displayed his aversion to Belpaire fireboxes and reboilered them with round-topped fireboxes again, but retaining the larger cabs. Once again, they retained their classifications.^[2][3]

Service

South Africa

The Class 6 was introduced primarily as a passenger locomotive, but when it became displaced by larger and more powerful locomotive classes, it literally became a “Jack-of-all-trades” that proved itself as one of the most useful and successful locomotive classes ever to be designed at the Salt River shops. It went on to see service in all parts of the country except Natal and was used on all types of traffic.^[1]

In Cape Town they held a monopoly over the suburban services until electrification arrived in 1928, and on the Reef they also worked these services between Randfontein and Springs until the loads became too heavy for them. They were employed on branch lines all over the country, Natal excluded, and practically every big station and many smaller ones had its quota of these handy locomotives to work the local passenger, goods and shunting services.^[1]

Like the Class 7, the Class 6 gave good service for many years. By the time the last ones were eventually retired in 1973, the Class 6 had achieved a service life of eighty years, a performance that can be matched by few, if any, other locomotive classes world wide.^[1]

Sudan

During World War II sixteen of the Classes 6 to 6D were transferred to the Middle East to assist with the war effort during the North African Campaign. The seven Class 6 locomotives in this group were numbers 402, 403, 406, 417, 421, 423 and 436. They were sold to the Sudan Railways Corporation in 1942 and renumbered M700 to M706, in the same order as their former SAR running numbers.^[1][3][6]

Renumberings

During their long service lives some of the Class 6 locomotives underwent multiple renumberings. All were initially numbered into the CGR’s Western and Midland Systems rosters. Fourteen of the Midland System’s locomotives, 353 to 355 and 360 to 370, were later renumbered 553 to 555 and 560 to 570. By the time the renumbering took place, the four that were not renumbered (356 to 359) had already been sold to the OVGS.^[1]

Two of the Western System and eight of the Midland System locomotives were sold to the OVGS in 1897 and renumbered to OVGS 60 to 69. It would appear that the CGR’s Western System was more concerned with having unbroken number ranges than the CGR itself was about awarding different classifications to dissimilar locomotives, even if they were of different wheel arrangements. The numbers of the two Western System locomotives that were sold to the OVGS, 155 and 160, were subsequently allocated again to two of the batch of fourteen locomotives that were delivered by Neilson, Reid and Company in 1902 and that were to become the Class 6J.^[5]

When the Orange Free State was occupied by the invading British forces during the Second Freedom War, these OVGS locomotives were taken over and used by the IMR, but not renumbered. When the IMR reverted to civilian control after the war and became established as the CSAR, these ten locomotives were reclassified to CSAR Class 6-L1 and renumbered CSAR 336 to 345.^[1][4][5]

All forty locomotives were eventually renumbered into the SAR’s roster in 1912, becoming SAR Class 6 401 to 440. Only one of the Class 6 locomotives underwent all these renumberings, from CGR 365 to CGR 565, then OVGS 65, then CSAR 341, then SAR 436 and finally Sudan Railway M706. The table shows all these renumberings as well as their Dübs works numbers and dates.^[4][5]

Gallery

The main picture shows ex CGR (Midland System) Class 6 no. 368, later renumbered CGR no. 568, then OVGS Class 6 no. 68, then CSAR Class 6-L1 no. 344, then SAR Class 6 no. 439 and finally Rovos Rail’s restored “Tiffany”.

See also

• South African Class 6A 4-6-0
• South African Class 6B 4-6-0
• South African Class 6C 4-6-0
• South African Class 6D 4-6-0
• South African Class 6E 4-6-0
• South African Class 6F 4-6-0
• South African Class 6G 4-6-0
• South African Class 6H 4-6-0
• South African Class 6J 4-6-0
• South African Class 6K 4-6-0
• South African Class 6L 4-6-0
• South African Class 6Y 2-6-2
• South African Class 6Z 2-6-4
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification
• The 4-6-0 "Ten-wheeler"
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 1: 1859-1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 44-45, 57. ISBN 0715353829. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2’0” & 3’6” Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 41-44. ISBN 0869772112. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 8, 12, 14, 28 (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 137-138. ISBN 0715354272. 
6. ^ Class 6 to 6D sold to Sudan Railways during the WWII North African Campaign, list compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Reimar Holzinger