NZASM 18 Tonner 0-6-0ST

The NZASM 18 Tonner 0-6-0ST of 1890 is a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Transvaal.

In 1890 the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal Republic) placed six saddle-tank locomotives with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement in service on construction work. Since the railway classified its locomotives according to their weight, these locomotives were known as the 18 Tonners.^[1]

The Delagoa Bay line

In order to have an outlet to a harbour, a railway line from Delagoa Bay in Mozambique to Pretoria had been proposed to the Volksraad of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) by President F.T. Burgers as far back as 1872. The Portuguese supported the idea since it would open a trade route from Mozambique into the interior. In 1883 Major Joachim Machado was sent to the Transvaal to report on a proposed route through the Komati river and Crocodile river valleys towards the Highveld and Pretoria. The resulting agreement was for the Portuguese to construct the section from Delagoa Bay (now Maputo) to the border at Komatipoort, while the ZAR would be responsible for the continuation of the line to Pretoria.^[3]

The Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM) was established on 21 June 1887 and proposed to construct two lines simultaneously. One was a 16 miles (26 kilometres) railway line from Johannesburg to Boksburg, which became known as the Randtram line. The other was the first section of the Delagoa Bay line from the Mozambique border via Nelspruit to Pretoria.^[1][3]

The Randtram line was officially opened on 17 March 1890. The Portuguese line from Delagoa Bay had already reached the border on 14 December 1887, but the first train from Delagoa Bay only entered Komatipoort on 1 July 1891 when the NZASM’s contractors completed the bridge across the Komati river. The line from Komatipoort to Nelspruit was completed by 20 June 1892. Waterval Boven was reached on 20 June 1894 and Balmoral near Witbank on 20 October 1894, where connection was made with the line that had simultaneously been built eastwards from Pretoria.^[3]

Manufacturer

Six saddle-tank locomotives, built by Manning Wardle and Company, were placed in service by the NZASM in 1890 and were used chiefly on construction work. Since the NZASM classified its locomotives according to their weight, these locomotives were known as 18 Tonners. The locomotives had inside cylinders and valve gear, placed between the frames and hidden from view by the wheels, which were coupled with external connecting rods.^[1]

As was often the practice at the time, they were purchased from the manufacturer and imported by agents acting on behalf of the end customer, the agent in the case of the 18 Tonners being Mynssen and Company. They were built in two batches of three and shipped from the factory between March and June 1890. There were minor differences between the locomotives of the two batches, the most notable being different footplate contours and buffer beams on the second batch. All six were equipped with 450 imperial gallons (2,000 litres; 540 US gallons) water tanks.^[2]

Numbering conundrum

The engine numbers on record for the 18 Tonners are a source of some confusion. They were rostered on the NZASM in the number range from 9 to 14, following on from the NZASM 10 Tonner engine numbers.^[1] But the Manning Wardle works records listed them as being numbered in the Delagoa Bay Railway number range from 53 to 58, following on from the engine numbers of the 10 Tonners while in service on the Delagoa Bay Railway. Furthermore, a Manning Wardle builder’s picture of an 18 Tonner shows it with Delagoa Bay Railway engine number 57.^[2][4]

Similarly, in the works list of the Dutch manufacturer Machinefabriek Breda in respect of the 10 Tonners, those locomotives are also recorded with Delagoa Bay Railway engine numbers 50 to 52 instead of NZASM engine numbers 6 to 8.^[5][6][7]

The question is, therefore, whether or not the 10 Tonners and 18 Tonners entered service on the Delagoa Bay Railway and were only rostered on the NZASM at a later stage.^[4]

The 10 Tonners and 18 Tonners were all delivered in 1890. At the time the first ones entered service in March and April 1890, the Randtram line where the 10 Tonners were to be placed in service had just been opened, with the first train being hauled by a 14 Tonner locomotive. However, the extensions of the Randtram line towards the east to Springs and towards the west via Roodepoort to Krugersdorp were still in progress. The extension from Germiston to Pretoria was only completed in December 1892, when a start was also made on the line from Pretoria to meet the approaching Delagoa Bay line, but Eerste Fabrieken in Pretoria East was only reached on 13 May 1894.^[3]

From the Mozambique end, the bridge across the Komati river was only completed in July 1891, Nelspruit was only reached in June 1892, Waterval Boven two years later in June 1894 and the link-up with Pretoria was only completed at Balmoral in October 1894, more than four years after the 18 Tonners entered service.^[3]

18 Tonner at work during the construction of the Brinkspruit bridge

Since they were used chiefly on construction work,^[1] it can therefore be surmised that the 18 Tonners were first placed in service on the Delagoa Bay Railway, hence the Delagoa Bay Railway engine numbers, from where they progressed towards Pretoria as the line was being built. Whether this could have been the case with all six 18 Tonners as well as the 10 Tonners, or whether at least some of the 18 Tonners were used on construction work from the Pretoria end as well, is not known, but fact remains that the line from the Delagoa Bay end was completed all the way up to Waterval Boven on the Highveld at about the same time that the line from the Pretoria end reached Eerste Fabrieken, situated in Pretoria East.^[3]

Service

Imperial Military Railways

All railway operations in the two Boer Republics, the ZAR and the Orange Free State, were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways (IMR) during the South African War. The IMR renumbering register made provision for all six 18 Tonners in the number range from 606 to 611. Three of them were later converted to stationary boilers no. 1592, 1593 and 1704.^[4]

Central South African Railways

At the end of the war, when the IMR was transformed into the Central South African Railways (CSAR), either one or two of the 18 Tonners survived and were renumbered, either as CSAR number E or as numbers D and E. The uncertainty arises from the fact that the renumbering register lists CSAR number D both as 14 Tonner no. 5 and as one of the 18 Tonner locomotives.^[7]

Industrial service

Two of the 18 Tonners were sold to industry, but neither is identified by engine number. One went to the Rand Collieries Schapenrust Coal Mines and was later sold again to Apex Colliery, where it was their no. 1. Another one went to Brakpan Mines, where it was their no. 2.^[4]

None of them were in service any longer by the time the South African Railways classification and renumbering program was implemented in 1912.

Works numbers

The NZASM 18 Tonner works numbers, factory shipping dates and Delagoa Bay Railway, NZASM and IMR engine numbers are shown in the table.^[1][2]

See also

• List of South African locomotive classes
• NZASM 10 Tonner 0-4-0T
• South African locomotive history
• The 0-6-0 wheel arrangement

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: NZASM 18 Tonner (0-6-0ST)

Locomotives of South Africa Steam Brunel gauge HBEL 0-4-0 HBTB 0-4-0T HBTB 0-4-0WT HBTB 0-4-0ST Broad gauge CGR Aid CGR Blackie CGR 0-4-2 CGR 2-4-0T NRC Durban NRC Natal NRC Perseverance Cape gauge Tank CGR Coffee Pot CGR 040 1873 CGR 040 1874 CGR 060 1876 CGR 060 1902 CGR 260 1900 CGR 260 1902 CGR 1st 040 1875 CGR 1st 440 1875 CGR 1st 040 1876 CGR 1st 260 1876 CGR 2nd 1882 CGR 3rd 1900 CGR RM CSAR C CSAR E CSAR Rack CSAR RM Dbn Congella Dbn Edward Innes Dbn John Milne Dbn Sir Albert HBPE 040 Kowie 060 Kowie 440 M&S 462 NGR Dbn & Pmb NGR I 262 NGR K 040 NGR K 060 NGR K 260 NZASM 10T NZASM 14T NZASM 18T NZASM 19T NZASM 32T NZASM 40T PPR 26T PPR 35T SAR RM SAR 0-4-0ST SAR 040 69 SAR A SAR B SAR C SAR C1 SAR C2 SAR D SAR E SAR F SAR G SAR H SAR H1 SAR H2 SAR J SAR K SWA 2-8-0T Cape gauge Tender CGR 1st 260 1876 BP CGR 1st 260 1876 K CGR 1st 260 1879 CGR 1st 440 1879 CGR 1st 1881 CGR 1st 1891 CGR 2nd 1875 CGR 3rd 1883 CGR 3rd 1884 CGR 3rd 1889 CGR 3rd 1898 CGR 3rd 1901 CGR 3rd 1903 CGR 4th 1880 CGR 4th 1882 CGR 4th 1884 CGR 4th 1897 CGR 5th 1890 CGR 5th 1891 NGR Havelock NGR I 260 Exp-1 Exp-2 Exp-3 Exp-4 Exp-5 Exp-6 SAR S SAR S1 SAR S2 SAR 1 SAR 1A SAR 1B SAR 2 SAR 2C SAR 3 SAR 3A SAR 3B SAR 4 SAR 4A SAR 5 SAR 5A SAR 5B SAR 6 SAR 6A SAR 6B SAR 6C SAR 6D SAR 6E SAR 6F SAR 6G SAR 6H SAR 6J SAR 6K SAR 6L SAR 6Y SAR 6Z SAR 7 SAR 7A SAR 7B SAR 7C SAR 7D SAR 7E SAR 7F SAR 8 SAR 8A SAR 8B SAR 8C SAR 8D SAR 8E SAR 8F SAR 8X SAR 8Y SAR 8Z SAR 9 SAR 10 SAR 10A SAR 10B SAR 10C SAR 10D SAR 11 SAR 12 SAR 12A SAR 12B SAR 13 SAR 14 SAR 14A SAR 14B SAR 14C SAR 15 SAR 15A SAR 15B SAR 15C SAR 15CA SAR 15E SAR 15F SAR 16 SAR 16A SAR 16B SAR 16C SAR 16D SAR 16DA SAR 16E SAR 17 SAR 18 SAR 19 SAR 19A SAR 19B SAR 19C SAR 19D SAR 20 SAR 21 SAR 23 SAR 24 SAR 25 SAR 25NC SAR 26 SWA 2-8-0 Cape gauge Articulated CGR Fairlie CGR Kitson-Meyer SAR FC SAR FD SAR GA SAR GB SAR GC SAR GCA SAR GD SAR GDA SAR GE SAR GEA SAR GF SAR GG SAR GH SAR GK SAR GL SAR GM SAR GMA SAR GO SAR HF SAR KM SAR MA SAR MB SAR MC SAR MC1 SAR MD SAR ME SAR MF SAR MG SAR MH SAR MJ SAR MJ1 SAR U 2ft 6in gauge CCC 1871 CCC Britannia CCC Caledonia CCC Clara CCC Condenser CCC Scotia NCC Pioneer 2ft & 600mm gauges ACR NG-G16A CGR NG 060 CGR NG 462 CGR A CGR C NGR N SAR 040 1899 SAR NG1 SAR NG2 SAR NG3 SAR NG4 SAR NG5 SAR NG6 SAR NG7 SAR NG8 SAR NG9 SAR NG10 SAR NG-G11 SAR NG-G12 SAR NG-G13 SAR NG-G14 SAR NG15 SAR NG-G16 SWA Ha SWA Hb SWA Hc SWA Hd SWA Jung SWA Zwillinge Diesel -electric SAR DS SAR DS1 SAR 31-000 SAR 32-000 SAR 32-200 SAR 33-000 SAR 33-200 SAR 33-400 SAR 34-000 SAR 34-200 SAR 34-400 SAR 34-500 SAR 34-600 SAR 34-800 SAR 34-900 SAR 35-000 SAR 35-200 SAR 35-400 SAR 35-600 SAR 36-000 SAR 36-200 SAR 37-000 SN 39-000 TFR 39-200 TFR 43-000 SAR 91-000 Afro4000 -hydraulic SAR 61-000 Electro-diesel SN 38-000 Electric SAR ES SAR ES1 Exp-AC SAR 1E SAR 2E SAR 3E SAR 4E SAR 5E-S1 SAR 5E-S2 SAR 5E-S3 SAR 5E1-S1 SAR 5E1-S2 SAR 5E1-S3 SAR 5E1-S4 SAR 5E1-S5 SAR 6E SAR 6E1-S1 SAR 6E1-S2 SAR 6E1-S3 SAR 6E1-S4 SAR 6E1-S5 SAR 6E1-S6 SAR 6E1-S7 SAR 6E1-S8 SAR 6E1-S9 SAR 6E1-S10 SAR 6E1-S11 SAR 7E SAR 7E1 SAR 7E2-S1 SAR 7E2-S2 SAR 7E3-S1 SAR 7E3-S2 SN 7E4 SAR 8E SAR 9E-S1 SAR 9E-S2 SAR 10E SAR 10E1-S1 SAR 10E1-S2 SAR 10E2 SAR 11E SAR 12E SN 14E SN 14E1 TFR 15E SN 16E SN 17E SN 18E-S1 TFR 18E-S2 TFR 19E TFR 20E TFR 21E E38 List of South African locomotive classes Rail transport in South Africa