South African Class 1B 4-8-2

The South African Class 1B 4-8-2 of 1904 is a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Natal Colony.

In 1904 the Natal Government Railways placed fifty Class B locomotives with a 4-8-0 Mastodon wheel arrangement in service. Of these, six were modified in 1906 to Altered Class B locomotives, the first in the world with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement. In 1912, when those six were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and classified as Class 1B.^[1][4][6]

Manufacturer

At the time that D.A. Hendrie was appointed as the Locomotive Superintendent of the Natal Government Railways (NGR), it had a large fleet of tank locomotives, but all with a limited coal and water range. It was also often necessary to double and even triple head them over the worst sections of the mainline with its steep 1 in 30 gradients. Hendrie was therefore tasked to produce a locomotive of greater power and capable of longer distances without refuelling or rewatering. His resulting Hendrie B achieved this and fifty such locomotives that the NGR ordered from the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) were delivered in 1904.^[1][6][7]

Characteristics

They had plate frames, Walschaerts valve gear with “D” valves, Belpaire fireboxes and used saturated steam. While the boiler was not pitched very high, Hendrie had still managed to extend the firebox sideways over the trailing driving wheels, with the result that the grate was almost on a level with the bottom of the boiler shell. To prevent the fire from entering the lower row of tubes, Hendrie arranged a vertical firewall towards the front of the grate which also created a combustion chamber.^[6]

This dry combustion chamber pre-dated the Gaines type, which was practically identical, by four years. The Gaines type was introduced in the United States in 1908 and became widely used on American locomotives.^[1]

Modifications

The first Mountain

In 1906 six of these locomotives, with numbers in the range from 319 to 324, were modified to a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement by adding a rear trailing bissel truck below the cab to give smoother operation when hauling fast passenger trains. This turned them into the NGR’s Altered Class B, the first 4-8-2 Mountain type tender locomotives in the world.^[1]

Steam reverser

Beginning in 1907 these locomotives were equipped with steam reversing gear, also designed by Hendrie. All Hendrie’s locomotives also came equipped with piston tail rods, but since they were difficult and costly to maintain, especially when used in conjunction with superheated steam, they were removed in 1925.^[1][6]

South African Railways

The Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, in terms of the South Africa Act, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. One of the clauses in the Act required that the three Colonial Government railways, the Cape Government Railways, the NGR and the Central South African Railways, also be united under one single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. While the South African Railways (SAR) came into existence in 1910, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways required careful planning and was only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912.^[4][8]

In 1912 these six Mountain types were renumbered in the range from 1440 to 1445 and classified as Class 1B on the SAR.^[1][4][6]

Between 1926 and 1928 new locomotives replaced the SAR Class 1B on mainline passenger service in Natal. Their trailing trucks were then removed and since they were once again identical to their sister Class 1 4-8-0 "Mastodon" types, they were all reclassified to Class 1.^[1][6]

Service

When new, they were placed in service hauling all the fast passenger trains between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. These locomotives opened up a new era on the NGR, where the tank locomotive was at last withdrawn from mainline working.^[1][6]

In later years they were relegated to shunting, particularly working in Natal but also in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and in the Transvaal. Although gradual withdrawal from service already commenced in 1935, half of the Class were still in capital stock by March 1972, with the last one only being written off in 1975.^[6][7]

In industrial service, number 1443 survived even longer and was still in service as Gledhow Sugar Mill’s number 1, "Chaka", in 1984.^[7]

Works numbers and renumbering

The works numbers and renumbering of the Class 1B are shown in the table.^[1]

See also

• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class 1 4-8-0
• South African Class 1A 4-8-0
• South African locomotive history
• The 4-8-2 "Mountain"
• The 4-8-0 "Mastodon"
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 1B (4-8-2)

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