South African Class 14 4-8-2

The South African Class 14 4-8-2 of 1913 is a South African steam locomotive from the South African Railways era.

Between 1913 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 14 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service.^[3]

Manufacturer

The Class 14 locomotive was a development of the Class 12 and was similar enough to it that many components were interchangeable. It was ordered from Robert Stephenson and Company in 1913 and was delivered in three batches between 1913 and 1915, numbered in the range from 1701 to 1745.^[3]

Characteristics

At the time the Class 14 was designed by D.A. Hendrie, then the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR), it was believed that small differences in wheel diameter had disproportionate effects on performance. The SAR already had the Class 3B Mountain type with 45 inches (1,140 millimetres) coupled wheels and the Class 12 Mountain type with 51 inches (1,300 millimetres) coupled wheels, but for the 300 feet (91 metres) radius curves and 1 in 30 gradients of the Natal mainline the Class 14 with 48 inches (1,220 millimetres) coupled wheels was evolved as an intermediate sized locomotive.^[4]

The Class 14 had Walschaerts valve gear and a Belpaire firebox and was superheated. Apart from the differences in their coupled wheel diameters, the Class 14 was a better locomotive with a more modern cylinder design, having straighter ports and a larger steam chest volume than the other two classes. It was the first Hendrie design with these features.^[3][4]

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.^[2][3]

All the Class 14 locomotives were eventually reboilered with Watson Standard no. 2 boilers and reclassified to Class 14R. 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.^[2][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 the Class 14 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.^[2]

Service

South African Railways

They were placed in service on the mainline between Durban and Ladysmith in Natal. With the gradual further electrification of the Natal mainline they were eventually left to operate on the old mainline route via Botha’s Hill, until that line was also electrified. Most of them were then allocated to Empangeni in the north and Port Shepstone in the south, and in 1976 many were transferred to the Witwatersrand for shunting service. By 1983 they were all retired.^[1][3]

International

As a result of the collapse of railways during the civil war in Mozambique, Class 14R locomotives became the mainstay of locomotive power in Swaziland, until they were eventually replaced there by Class 15AR locomotives.^[4]

Similarly, while Zimbabwe was rebuilding its Garratt fleet, Class 14R locomotives were hired for shunting service in order to release Garratt locomotives for mainline work.^[4]

Industrial

Thirteen Class 14R locomotives were eventually sold into industrial service:

• No. 1701 became Apex Colliery no. 5 at Greenside.
• No. 1705 and 1737 became Grootvlei Proprietary Mines no. 5 "Joyce" and no. 4 respectively. No. 4 was later renumbered to no. 6 "Graham".
• No. 1711, 1714, 1719, 1732 and 1735 went to Rustenburg Platinum Mines, retaining their SAR numbers.
• No. 1723 and 1745 went to Natal Cambrian Colliery at Ballangeiech as no. 1 and 2 respectively.
• No. 1729 went to the Vaal Reefs Gold Mine.
• No. 1730 became Randfontein Estates Gold Mine no. 5.
• No. 1740 went to Newcastle Platberg Colliery and later to Ballangeiech Colliery.^[4]

Service illustrated

The main picture shows the first Class 14 to be built, no. 1701, at Millsite in Krugersdorp, Transvaal, on 23 April 1979. Locomotives from the second and third batches are shown below.

• 

  Second batch no. 1730 at Volksrust, Transvaal, 12 April 1979

• 

  Last built no. 1745 at Millsite, Krugersdorp, Transvaal, 16 April 1981

• 

  No. 1745, still at Millsite, 33 years later on 22 February 2014

See also

• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class 14A 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 14 (4-8-2)

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