South African Class 7D 4-8-0

The South African Class 7D 4-8-0 of 1915 is a South African steam locomotive from the South African Railways era.

Between 1899 and 1903 the Rhodesia Railways placed fifty-two Cape 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon steam locomotives in service. One more was obtained from the Imperial Military Railways in March 1901 as replacement for a locomotive that was damaged beyond local repair capabilities as a result of hostilities during delivery.^[1]

In May 1915 five of these locomotives were sold to the South African Railways, where they were renumbered and reclassified, four of them to Class 7D and the remaining one erroneously to Class 7B. At the same time, the ex Imperial Military Railways locomotive was also sold back to South Africa and was, also erroneously, designated Class 7D.^[1][6][8]

Rhodesian 7th Class

Fifty-two Cape 7th Class 4-8-0 steam locomotives were built for the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR), later the Rhodesia Railways (RR), between 1899 and 1903. These locomotives were acquired by Southern Rhodesia at the time when railways were still expanding from South Africa via the Bechuanaland Protectorate into Southern Rhodesia in the southwest and from Beira in Mozambique to Umtali in the east, and while the Anglo-Boer War was being waged. At the time the system was composed of several smaller railways, still largely under construction, that were eventually all linked up in 1902. These were:^[1]

• The fledgling Bechuanaland Railways (BR) that was still being operated by the Cape Government Railways (CGR) from Vryburg via Mafeking in the Cape Colony to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia.

• The Mashonaland Railways (MR) that operated in Southern Rhodesia from Bulawayo to Umtali in the east.

• The Rhodesia Railways Northern Extensions (RRM) that operated north and east of Bulawayo towards Northern Rhodesia.

• The Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR) that operated between Umtali in Southern Rhodesia and Beira in Mozambique.

Manufacturers

The fifty-two locomotives were ordered in five batches from three British manufacturers.^[1]

• Twelve were delivered by Neilson, Reid and Company between August and October 1899. They were virtually identical to the ex CGR Class 7A. Two of them were numbered BR7 and BR8 for the BMR, for service at the Beira end, while the rest were numbered in the range from RR1 to RR10. In 1901 eleven of them were renumbered in the range from MR8 to MR18, MR20 and MR21, not in order, for the BMR. The exception was no. RR8, which was delivered damaged beyond local repair abilities, apparently as a result of hostilities while in transit through the area under control of the British Military near Mafeking. A Neilson, Reid built 7th Class locomotive of the Imperial Military Railways (IMR), number IMR 110, was subsequently transferred to the BMR at Umtali in March 1901 as replacement for the damaged no. RR8. It was renumbered to MR19, the number that would have been allocated to no. RR8. The renumberings are tabled below.^[1]

• A second batch of twelve were delivered by Neilson, Reid in August 1900 and numbered in the range from RR11 to RR22. They were placed in service on the line from Vryburg to Bulawayo and based at Mafeking. In 1901 four of them, no. RR11, RR12, RR17 and RR20, were relocated to the BMR and renumbered in the range from MR20 to MR23, in order. Many of the Neilson, Reid built locomotives from both batches were renumbered a second time in 1906, as shown in the table.^[1]

• A third batch of eight locomotives was delivered from Kitson and Company between 1901 and 1903, numbered in the range from RR23 to RR30. These were built with Belpaire fireboxes instead of the usual round-topped fireboxes that earlier 7th Class locomotives of the CGR, the IMR and the RR were delivered with. They were also placed in service at Mafeking.^[1]

• The fourth batch of ten locomotives, again with Belpaire fireboxes, was delivered from North British Locomotive Company (NBL) in October and November 1903. They were numbered in the range from RR31 to RR40. Of these, numbers RR31 to RR38 were allocated to the Mashonaland Railways-Kalomo-Broken Hill (MR-KB) section. They retained their RR numbers, but had brass plates with the letters "KB" affixed above their number plates on their cab sides to indicate their ownership. The other two were also placed in service at Mafeking.^[1]

• The fifth and final batch of ten Rhodesian 7th Class locomotives was also built by NBL and delivered in November and December 1903, numbered in the range from RR41 to RR50. They were also placed in service at Mafeking.^[1]

Works numbers

Their builders, works numbers and renumberings are shown in the table.^[1][3][4][6]

South African Railways

In May 1915 six of the Neilson, Reid built 7th Class locomotives were purchased by the South African Railways (SAR) to augment its locomotive stock, which was being severely taxed due to war conditions at the time. These six locomotives included the war-damaged no. RR8 that had still not been repaired and consequently never ran a mile in revenue service in Rhodesia, as well as the ex IMR locomotive that had been transferred to Rhodesia as compensation for the damaged no. RR8. They were renumbered and five of them were classified to SAR Class 7D, numbered in the range from 1351 to 1355, and one was mistakenly classified as Class 7B, number 949.^[1][6][8]

Classification errors

During this SAR classification and renumbering process, two of these locomotives were incorrectly classified, possibly as a result of their records getting exchanged in an apparent administrative error.^[9]

• Ex IMR no. 110, that replaced the damaged no. RR8, would have become Central South African Railways (CSAR) no. 380 in 1902 and, with the rest of the ex IMR locomotives, would have been designated SAR Class 7B in 1912, but this never happened since it had already been transferred to the BMR at Umtali in March 1901. When it was taken onto the SAR roster from Rhodesia in 1915, it was incorrectly designated as Class 7D instead of Class 7B and renumbered SAR no. 1355.^[1][9]

• Ex no. RR1, later no. MR8 and then no. RRM63 was incorrectly designated as Class 7B instead of Class 7D and renumbered SAR no. 949.^[1][6]

Class 7 sub-classes

Other 7th Class locomotives that came onto the SAR roster from the other Colonial railways in the region in 1912, namely the CGR, CSAR, the Natal Government Railways (NGR) and, in 1925, from the New Cape Central Railways (NCCR), were grouped into six different sub-classes by the SAR, becoming SAR Classes 7, 7A to 7C, 7E and 7F.^[7]

Modifications

During the 1930s many of the Class 7 family of locomotives were equipped with superheated boilers and piston valves. On the Class 7B and Class 7C this conversion was sometimes indicated with an "S" suffix to the class letter on the locomotive number plates, but on the rest of the Class 7 family this distinction was not applied consistently. The superheated versions could be identified by the position of the chimney on the smokebox, with the chimney displaced forward to provide space behind it in the smokebox for the superheater header.^[7][8]

Service

In SAR service, the Class 7 series did duty on every system in the country. During the South West African Campaign in World War I, twenty-nine Class 7 to Class 7C locomotives were sent to South West Africa (SWA) to assist the expeditionary forces. They proved so successful in that territory that more were gradually transferred there in later years. By the time the Class 24 arrived in SWA in 1949, there were still altogether fifty-three Class 7 series locomotives in use there. Most remained there and were only transferred back to South Africa when the Class 32-000 diesel-electric locomotives replaced them in 1961. In South Africa they remained in branchline service, particularly at Tarkastad and Ladysmith and also as the "Makadas" on the line from Touws River to Ladismith, until they were finally withdrawn in 1972.^[1][8]

See also

• South African Class 7 4-8-0
• South African Class 7A 4-8-0
• South African Class 7B 4-8-0
• South African Class 7C 4-8-0
• South African Class 7E 4-8-0
• South African Class 7F 4-8-0
• The 4-8-0 "Mastodon"
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification
• South African locomotive history
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 7D (4-8-0)

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