Kowie Railway 4-4-0T

Kowie Railway 4-4-0T
Kowie Railway 4-4-0T "Grahamstown"
Specifications
Power type	Steam
Designer	Hunslet Engine Company
Builder	Hunslet Engine Company
Serial number	294-295
Build date	1882
Total produced	2
Configuration	4-4-0T "American"
Gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Leading wheel diameter	27 1⁄2 in (699 mm)
Driver diameter	48 in (1,220 mm)
Wheelbase	7 ft 3 in (2.210 m) coupled 18 ft 5 in (5.613 m) engine
Length	29 ft 10 in (9.093 m) over couplers
Height	12 ft 2 in (3.708 m)
Locomotive weight	27 long tons (27.4 t) w/o
Fuel type	Wood
Fuel capacity	1 1⁄2 long tons (1.5 t)
Water capacity	650 imp gal (3,000 l; 780 US gal)
Boiler	9 ft 3 3⁄4 in (2.838 m) inside length 5 ft 9 in (1.753 m) pitch
Boiler pressure	160 psi (1,100 kPa)
Firegrate area	9 3⁄4 sq ft (0.906 m2)
Heating surface: – Tubes	115 tubes 1 3⁄4 in (44.4 mm) diameter 495 sq ft (45.987 m2)
– Firebox	61 sq ft (5.7 m2)
– Total	556 sq ft (51.7 m2)
Cylinders	Two
Cylinder size	13 in (330 mm) bore 20 in (508 mm) stroke
Valve gear	Stephenson
Tractive effort	8,450 lbf (37.6 kN) at 75% boiler pressure
Career
Operator(s)	Kowie Railway South African Railways
Number in class	2
Official name	"Grahamstown" & "Bathurst"
Delivered	1882
First run	1882 [1]

The Kowie Railway 4-4-0T of 1882 is a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape Colony.

In 1882 two 4-4-0 American type tank locomotives entered passenger service on the private Kowie Railway between Grahamstown and Port Alfred, which was still under construction at the time.^[1]

Manufacturer

Two 4-4-0 American type tank locomotives with works numbers 294 and 295 were delivered from Hunslet Engine Company to the Grahamstown and Port Alfred Railway Company in 1882. The locomotives were acquired for passenger working and were named "Grahamstown" and "Bathurst" respectively. They were designed for wood-burning and were equipped with large American style balloon smokestacks that incorporated spark arresters.^[1]

The Kowie Railway

The private Kowie Railway line between Grahamstown and Port Alfred came into existence and was operated by three successive private enterprises, all of which ran into financial difficulties.^[2]

In 1881 the Government of the Cape Colony authorised the London-based Grahamstown and Port Alfred Railway Company to construct a railway from Port Alfred to Grahamstown. The contract for construction was awarded to Pauling & Co. and the first sod was officially turned on 21 October 1881.^[2][3]

The Port Alfred-Grahamstown-Alicedale line

The surveyed route of the line crossed the Kowie River at Blaauwkrantz, where a high bridge needed to be constructed. It had been estimated that the line would be completed by the end of 1883, but since the construction of the Blaauwkrantz Bridge delayed progress, the 43 miles (69 kilometres) long line was only partially opened to traffic from Port Alfred as far as Blaauwkrantz on 24 December 1883. At Blaauwkrantz passengers had to disembark and complete the journey to Grahamstown on the post cart.^[2][3]

The bridge was completed and opened to traffic on 1 October 1884 and the Kowie Railway was linked to the Cape Government Railways at Grahamstown on 11 November 1884.^[3]

Partly as a result of the difficulties experienced with harbour development at Port Alfred, the Grahamstown and Port Alfred Railway Company soon experienced financial difficulties and was forced into liquidation in 1887. A group of Grahamstown residents formed a syndicate in 1888 and took over the operation of the line to Port Alfred until 1895, when they sold out to the Kowie Railway Company.^[2]

The Blaauwkrantz disaster

The Kowie Railway line was never prosperous. After the Cape Government eventually abandoned its attempts at harbour development at Port Alfred in 1898 due to the continuous silting up of the Kowie River, the line's financial difficulties increased. Track maintenance was neglected and the situation was aggravated by a series of minor accidents.^[1]

Kowie Railway 4-4-0T with a mixed train crossing Blaauwkrantz Bridge, c. 1910

The Kowie Railway's death blow came on 22 April 1911. A mixed train from Port Alfred, made up of six goods trucks, three passenger carriages and a guard's van, came to grief when one of the goods trucks derailed on the Blaauwkrantz Bridge and, with the three carriages and the guard's van, plunged into the ravine 200 feet (61 metres) below. Of the 55 passengers, 31 were killed and 23 seriously injured. The resultant claims against the Kowie Railway Company forced it into bankruptcy.^[1][2][3][4]

South African Railways

The line was taken over by the South African Railways on 1 April 1913. The two passenger locomotives, along with the two goods engines "Port Alfred" and "Kowie" and three Cape 4th Class 4-6-0TT locomotives that had been purchased from the Cape Government Railways around 1904, remained in service on this line until they were scrapped.^[1][2]

See also

• Kowie Railway 0-6-0T
• The 4-4-0 "American"
• South African locomotive history
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kowie Railway Co

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