South African Class 14A 4-8-2

The South African Class 14A 4-8-2 of 1914 is a South African steam locomotive from the South African Railways era.

In 1914 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-one Class 14A steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service.^[4]

Manufacturer

Following the success of the Class 14, D.A. Hendrie, then the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR), used the design as basis for the lighter Class 14A locomotive for use on coastal lines. The second version of the Class 14 locomotive was ordered from the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) in 1913 and was built in two batches. Twenty were delivered in 1914, numbered in the range from 1576 to 1595, and another twenty-one in 1914 and 1915, numbered in the range from 1901 to 1921.^[2]

Like the Class 14, the Class 14A had Walschaerts valve gear and a Belpaire firebox and was superheated, but it had nearly 6 inches (152 millimetres) less boiler diameter than the Class 14 in order to reduce the axle loading to 15 long tons (15.2 tonnes), specifically for use on the lighter track on the Cape Eastern mainline from East London. To compensate for the smaller boilers, they were equipped with smaller cylinders with a bore of 21 inches (533 millimetres) instead of 22 inches (559 millimetres).^[2][4][5]

Watson Standard boilers

During the 1930s many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by then CME A.G. Watson as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.^[3][4]

All the Class 14A locomotives except number 1915 were eventually reboilered with Watson Standard no 2 boilers. In the process they were also equipped with Watson cabs, with their distinctive slanted fronts, compared to the conventional vertical fronts of their original cabs. In spite of being lighter than the Class 14, they were reclassified to Class 14R along with reboilered Class 14 locomotives, instead of to Class 14AR. Even so, they could still be identified as ex Class 14A locomotives by the absence of sandboxes on their running boards.^[3][4]

An obvious visual difference between an original and a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive is usually a rectangular regulator cover just to the rear of the chimney on the reboilered locomotive. In the case of reboilered Class 14A locomotives two even more obvious visual differences are the Watson cab and the absence of the Belpaire firebox hump between the cab and boiler on the reboilered locomotives.^[3]

Service

South African Railways

As intended, the Class 14A was placed in service on the East London mainline, but although they were good locomotives, they were not very successful there and were soon relocated to be shared between the Cape Western system for use between Cape Town and Beaufort West, and the Eastern Transvaal system for use on the line to Delagoa Bay out of Pretoria, particularly between Waterval Boven and Komatipoort. The Cape Western locomotives later joined the rest of the Class in the Eastern Transvaal. They proved themselves as free steaming locomotives, low on maintenance costs and trouble-free, and therefore popular with crews and fitters alike.^[2][4]

Industrial

Six were eventually sold into industrial service.

• No. 1586 went to Rustenburg Platinum Mines, retaining its SAR number.
• No. 1589 became "Bob" at the Vaal Reefs Gold Mine.
• No. 1906 became Randfontein Estates Gold Mine no. 6.
• No. 1908 became Apex Colliery no. 4 at Greenside.
• No. 1918 went to St Helena Gold Mines.
• No. 1921 became Grootvlei Proprietary Mines Limited no. 3, "Duggie".^[5]

Service illustrated

The main picture shows second order Class 14R no. 1905 at Klerksdorp, Transvaal, on 17 April 1978. The first of the following pictures illustrate the Class 14A locomotive as built, while the rest show reboilered Class 14R locomotives in service.

• 

  First order no. 1578, as built with a Belpaire firebox, depicted on a SAR Museum playing card

• 

  First order no. 1590 named "Mary" at Cato Ridge, Natal, 24 March 1978

• 

  First order no. 1592 at Mason’s Mill, Pietermaritzburg, 29 March 1979

• 

  Second order no. 1911 at De Aar, 15 April 1978, with a Class 24's tender ^[1]

• 

  Second order no. 1907 on the coaling stage at Klerksdorp, Transvaal, 17 April 1978

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Durrant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

See also

• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class 14 4-8-2
• South African Class 14B 4-8-2
• South African Class 14C 4-8-2
• South African locomotive history
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification
• The 4-8-2 "Mountain"
• Watson Standard boilers

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 14A (4-8-2)

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