Namaqualand 0-6-0T 1871

The Namaqualand 0-6-0T of 1871 are two South African steam locomotives from the pre-Union era in the Cape Colony.

In 1871 two 2 feet 6 inches (762 millimetres) gauge tank locomotives with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement were placed in service by the Cape Copper Mining Company. They were the first steam locomotives to enter service on the hitherto mule-powered Namaqualand Railway between Port Nolloth and the Namaqualand copper mines around O'okiep in the northwestern Cape Colony.^[1]

Cape Copper Company

The Cape Copper Company had its origin in the Cape Copper Mining Company that was established in 1862 or 1863 as the Cape of Good Hope Copper Mining Company to take over the copper mining properties of Phillips & King, an enterprise that had been involved in copper mining in Namaqualand since the 1850s. John King, one of the members of the defunct Phillips & King, was appointed a director of the new mining company. The Cape Copper Mining Company was restructured as the Cape Copper Company in 1888.^[1]

Namaqualand Railway

Copper ore had to be transported from the mines around O'okiep to the harbour at Port Nolloth on the West Coast by ox wagon. The poor roads through mountainous areas hindered development of the mines and the already high transport cost was often aggravated by droughts and animal sickness. This eventually led to the decision by the mining company to build a light railway between the port and the mines, on advice from civil engineer R. Thomas Hall, Superintendent of the narrow gauge Redruth and Chacewater Railway in Cornwall.^[1][2]

The first 48 miles (77 kilometres) long section of the Namaqualand Railway, from Port Nolloth to Nonams, was authorised by the Cape Government in 1869 and construction of the 2 feet 6 inches (762 millimetres) gauge railway commenced on 4 September 1869. Anenous, to the west of Nonams, was reached on 1 January 1871. Nonams was bypassed by the railway and Steinkopf was reached in 1873. The 93 ¹⁄₂ miles (150 kilometres) long line between Port Nolloth and O'okiep was opened on 1 January 1876.^[1]

Since the line was to be mule-powered, it was constructed using iron bridge rails mounted on longitudinal sleepers in order to allow free passage to the animals that worked the line. Typical mule trains were made up of ten pairs of wagons, each pair hauled by four mules harnessed in tandem.^[1]

The Lilleshall locomotives

Even though the Act of 1869 which authorised the construction of the first section of the railway to Nonams near Anenous did not provide for the use of steam power on the line, two "illegal" tank locomotives were acquired by the mining company on an experimental basis in 1871. They were built by Lilleshall Company of Oakengates in Shropshire in 1870 and 1871. To date no photographs or drawings of either of the locomotives have been found but they are known to have been non-identical six-wheeled side-tank engines.^[1]

The engine John King

The first locomotive, named John King after the company director and former head of the defunct Phillips & King, arrived in Port Nolloth on the ship Ocean King in December 1870 or January 1871. It was a six-coupled tank engine that was used with a separate tender because of the shortage of water along the line. It is unclear whether the tender was also imported or constructed locally. The locomotive had cylinders of 6 inches (152 millimetres) bore and 12 inches (305 millimetres) stroke.^[1]

The engine John King entered service on 1 February 1871, making daily round trips from Port Nolloth to the 35 Miles Station and hauling as many as ten wagons with gross train weights of 20 tons up and 35 tons down.^[1]

The engine Miner

The second locomotive, named Miner, arrived in September 1871. This locomotive was larger with cylinders of 7 inches (178 millimetres) bore and 14 inches (356 millimetres) stroke. Apart from the cylinder size, no other details of this locomotive are known and the rest of the specifications as shown in the infobox above are all applicable to the engine John King only. While the engine Miner was also six-wheeled, it has not been confirmed that it was also six-coupled and it could therefore possibly have been of a 0-4-2 or 2-4-0 wheel arrangement. The fact that it was larger than the engine John King, however, makes it likely that it was also of a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement. It is presumed to also have been used in a tank-and-tender configuration.^[1]

Service

The locomotives were less than successful. They turned out to be too light, were adversely affected by the sandy conditions and suffered frequent boiler tube failures. At one stage in 1873, only two years after entering service, both locomotives were reported as being under repair, with mules handling all traffic. Both were withdrawn from mainline service in 1876 and relegated to hauling ballast trains and emergency use. By 1884 the engine Miner was dismantled awaiting boiler repairs, which never happened. The engine John King was still at work in May 1887, but in July its boiler was borrowed to replace the failed boiler of the tug Nolloth. The borrowed boiler was returned in November 1887, but the engine John King was never repaired again.^[1]

See also

• The 0-6-0 wheel arrangement
• South African locomotive history
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Namaqualand Railway

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