South African Class NG9 4-6-0
Class NG9, c. 1930
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
DesignerBaldwin Locomotive Works
BuilderBaldwin Locomotive Works
Serial number42301-42306
Build date1915
Total produced6
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte4-6-0
 • UIC2'Cn2
Driver2nd coupled axle
Gauge2 ft (610 mm) narrow
Leading dia.22 in (559 mm)
Coupled dia.33 in (838 mm)
Tender wheels22 in (559 mm)
Wheelbase36 ft 10 in (11,227 mm) ​
 • Engine13 ft 1 in (3,988 mm)
 • Leading4 ft (1,219 mm)
 • Coupled6 ft 3 in (1,905 mm)
 • Tender13 ft 7 in (4,140 mm)
 • Tender bogie4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm)
Wheel spacing
(Asymmetrical)		1-2: 3 ft 3 in (991 mm)
2-3: 3 ft (914 mm)
Length:
​
 • Over couplers44 ft 4+3⁄8 in (13,522 mm)
Height10 ft 4+1⁄4 in (3,156 mm)
Axle load5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg) ​
 • Leading4 LT (4,064 kg)
 • 1st coupled5 LT 7 cwt (5,436 kg)
 • 2nd coupled5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg)
 • 3rd coupled5 LT 2 cwt (5,182 kg)
 • Tender bogie10 LT 6 cwt (10,470 kg)
 • Tender axle5 LT 3 cwt (5,233 kg) average
Adhesive weight16 LT 5 cwt (16,510 kg)
Loco weight20 LT 5 cwt (20,570 kg)
Tender weight20 LT 16 cwt 2 qtr (21,160 kg)
Total weight41 LT 1 cwt 2 qtr (41,730 kg)
Tender type2-axle bogies
Fuel typeCoal
Fuel capacity5 LT (5.1 t)
Water cap.1,250 imp gal (5,680 L)
Firebox:​
 • TypeRound-top
 • Grate area7.5 sq ft (0.70 m2)
Boiler:
​
 • Pitch4 ft 8+5⁄16 in (1,430 mm)
 • Diameter3 ft 2+1⁄8 in (968 mm)
 • Tube plates10 ft 8 in (3,251 mm)
 • Small tubes67: 2 in (51 mm)
Boiler pressure180 psi (1,241 kPa)
Heating surface424.4 sq ft (39.43 m2) ​
 • Tubes381 sq ft (35.4 m2)
 • Firebox43.4 sq ft (4.03 m2)
CylindersTwo
Cylinder size11+3⁄4 in (298 mm) bore
16 in (406 mm) stroke
Valve gearWalschaerts
Valve typeSlide
CouplersBell-and-hook
Performance figures
Tractive effort9,036 lbf (40.19 kN) @ 75%
Career
OperatorsSouth African Railways
Moçâmedes Railway
ClassClass NG9
Number in class6
NumbersNG42-NG47
Delivered1915-1916
First run1915
Withdrawn1951
The 2nd coupled axle had flangeless wheels

The South African Railways Class NG9 4-6-0 of 1915 was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive.

During 1915 and 1916, the South African Railways placed six 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service on the Langkloof narrow-gauge railway. When a system of grouping narrow-gauge locomotives into classes was eventually introduced somewhere between 1928 and 1930, they were classified as Class NG9.[1][2]

Manufacturer

Due to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the usual British locomotive suppliers were hard pressed to satisfy British requirements at the time, let alone those of other parts of the world. As a result, the South African Railways (SAR) placed an order with the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the United States of America in 1915 for six narrow-gauge 4-6-0 locomotives. They were all built by August 1915 and were delivered to the SAR in 1915 and 1916, numbered in the range from NG42 to NG47.[1][2]

Characteristics

The locomotives were very similar to the Bagnall-built Type B locomotives which had been delivered to the Cape Government Railways (CGR) in 1903, except that they were equipped with Walschaerts valve gear.[1]

Service

South African Railways

They were erected at the Uitenhage workshops and placed in service on the Walmer branchline of the Langkloof railway between Port Elizabeth and Avontuur. They all remained in service there until 1929, although some were at one time also employed to help out on the line from Kalbaskraal to Saldanha in the Western Cape.[1][2][3]

The system of grouping narrow-gauge locomotives into classes was only adopted by the SAR somewhere between 1928 and 1930 and, at that point, these locomotives were designated Class NG9.[1][4]

The Walmer branch succumbed to bus competition and was closed on 26 November 1928, after being in operation for over twenty years. Numbers NG42 and NG43 were withdrawn from service in 1929. In that same year, numbers NG44 and NG46 were transferred to Upington to work on the branchline to Kakamas. The last remaining one of these locomotives on the Avontuur railway, no. NG45, was relieved from line work and retained at Humewood Road in Port Elizabeth for yard duties until 1939, when it was also transferred to Upington and replaced by Class NG3 tank engine no. NG5 from Natal.[1][2][3]

Moçâmedes Railway

The three locomotives at Upington, numbers NG44, NG45 and NG46, survived in SAR service until April 1951 when they were sold to the Caminhos de Ferro de Moçâmedes (CFM) of Angola.[1][3][5]

They were numbered 111 to 113 on the CFM, apparently not in the same order as their old SAR engine numbers, and were placed in service on the Ramal da Chibía, a 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow-gauge branchline across 116 kilometres (72 miles) from Sá da Bandeira (now Lubango) to Chiange.[5]

CF Moçâmedes no. 111 (right) and possibly no. 113 (left), at the Sa da Bandeira shops, Angola, 7 August 1972

This branch was opened in two stages in 1949 and 1953. It is believed the three loco­motives also worked on the mainline from Moçâmedes to Sá da Bandeira (now Lubango), until that line was regauged to Cape gauge in the mid-1950s.[5]

They were possibly retired at about this time, being replaced on the branchline by 60-Series 0-8-2T locomotives which were released by the regauging of the mainline. In later years, these 0-8-2T locomotives were equipped with the NG9 tenders to increase their wood and water carrying capacity.[5]

The Class NG9 locomotives were observed dumped at the Sá da Bandeira shops by 1969, without their tenders. At the time it appeared as if they had been in that condition for some time. The branchline itself was closed in 1970.[3][5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class NG9 4-6-0.
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 104, 110. ISBN 0869772112.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1945). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1945. p. 782.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Soul of A Railway, System 3, Part 1: Cape Midland, based in Port Elizabeth, Part 1, The Port Elizabeth Narrow Gauge. Captions 11, 12 & 22 (Accessed on 10 December 2016)
  4. ↑ South African Railways and Harbours Narrow Gauge Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" Gauge, S.A.R. Mechanical Dept. Drawing Office, Pretoria, 28 November 1932
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Information supplied by Peter Bagshawe
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