South African Class A 4-8-2T


The South African Railways Class A 4-8-2T of 1888 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Colony of Natal.
In 1888, the Natal Government Railways placed the first five of its eventual one hundred Class D steam locomotives in service. The last was delivered in 1899. They were the first locomotives in the world to be built with a wheel arrangement, later to become known as the Mountain type. In 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and designated Class A. In 1915, another two Class A locomotives were built from spare parts.

Manufacturers

The Natal Government Railways Class D tank locomotive was designed by William Milne, the Locomotive Superintendent of the NGR from 1877 to 1896, and was built by Dübs and Company. The first 46 locomotives, with an operating boiler pressure of and numbered in the range from 49 to 94, were placed in service during Milne's term. They proved to be such good engines that, when G.W. Reid took over as Locomotive Superintendent in 1896, he continued to place further orders for another 58, numbered in the range from 91 to 148, but with the boiler pressure increased to. These 100 locomotives, initially known on the NGR as the Dübs A, were delivered in ten batches by Dübs between 1888 and 1899.
As far as is known, the Dübs A locomotives were the first in the world to be designed and built with a wheel arrangement, later to become known as the Mountain type.

Modifications

The performance in service of the Dübs A was gradually improved by various modifications. New boilers were fitted as and when the originals needed replacement, with a working pressure of instead of the as-delivered of the first few batches. This increased their tractive effort at 75% boiler pressure from to. The coal bunkers were also enlarged and the connecting rod big-ends were changed to the marine type to increase ground clearance.
Another modification was an extended smokebox on most locomotives, such as on NGR no. 87 depicted below. In the 1890s, some improvements to smokebox design took place. Extending the smokebox forward increased its volume. The increased amount of exhaust gases present in the smokebox had the effect of stabilising and improving the draught. The date of this improvement can be pinned to 1891 when the second batch of Michael Stephens’ Cape Government Railways 5th Class 4-6-0 locomotives with their lengthened smokeboxes entered service. This had such a profound effect on the boiler’s steaming ability that virtually every locomotive on the CGR and NGR had their smokeboxes extended.
Beginning in 1905, after D.A. Hendrie took over from Reid as Locomotive Superintendent, these locomotives were gradually fitted with Belpaire fireboxes with wider firegrates. The flat-topped Belpaire firebox had the advantage of an increased area of the water-line at the hottest part of the boiler, together with increased steam space over the firebox. In order to accomplish this, Hendrie raised the boiler's pitch by and cut away the frame under the firebox to accommodate the wider grates. The wider firebox required that the water tanks also had to be moved out and the opportunity was taken to enlarge the tanks. The cabs were also improved to offer the engine crew better protection, and new brass-capped chimneys replaced the original straight flared chimneys. These modified locomotives were known as the Improved Dübs A.
When a locomotive classification system was introduced on the NGR, the Dübs A locomotive family was designated Class D. The unmodified locomotives became the Class D1 while the modified locomotives with Belpaire fireboxes became the Class D2.

South African Railways

When the Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways were united under a single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. Although the South African Railways and Harbours came into existence in 1910, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways was only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912.
In 1912, these engines were designated Class A and were renumbered in the range from 97 to 196, with the unmodified Class D1 locomotives receiving the numbers in the range from 97 to 186 and the ten, at the time, already reboilered Class D2 locomotives receiving the numbers in the range from 187 to 196. In South African Railways service, the Improved Dübs A locomotives became known as the Class A Belpaire.
In 1915, to help counter wartime motive power shortages brought about by the diminished ability to order new locomotives from European builders due to hostilities, another two Class A locomotives were built from spare parts by the SAR in their Durban shops. These two locomotives were numbered 332 and 333.

Service

In the NGR era, the Class D fleet remained in service on the Natal mainline until they were eventually displaced by more modern locomotives. They continued to serve well into the SAR era on the Dundee-Hlobane branchline, the Harrismith-Ladysmith section and on the north coast line to Empangeni.
In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the German South West Africa colony was occupied by the Union Defence Forces. Since a large part of the territory's railway infrastructure and rolling stock was destroyed or damaged by retreating German forces, an urgent need arose for locomotives for use on the Cape gauge lines in that territory. In 1917, numbers 98 and 183 were transferred to the Defence Department for service in South West Africa. Both locomotives are believed to have returned to South Africa after the war.
The last of the was withdrawn from service in 1962. Several locomotives continued to serve in industrial use for many years.

Preservation

A few survive in preservation.
When a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives developed in 1926, the SAR modified 21 Class A and Class A Belpaire locomotives by removing the trailing bissel bogie and coal bunker, shortening the main frame and adding a tender to increase their coal and water capacity. Tenders from various scrapped locomotive types were used.
These 21 rebuilt locomotives became the SAR Class 17 tank-and-tender locomotives, numbered in the range from 1415 to 1435. They were used as shunting locomotives around Durban and Port Elizabeth, until they were withdrawn from service by 1961.

Works numbers

The builder's works numbers, years built, NGR and SAR numbers, firebox type and Class 17 numbers are listed in the table.

Builder		Works
No.		Year
NGR
No.		SAR
No.		Model
Class
17 No.
Dübs244618884997Dübs A
Dübs244718885098Dübs A
Dübs244818885199Dübs A
Dübs2449188852100Dübs A
Dübs2450188853101Dübs A
Dübs2451188854102Dübs A
Dübs2499188955103Dübs A
Dübs2500188956104Dübs A
Dübs2501188957105Dübs A
Dübs2502188958106Dübs A
Dübs2503188959107Dübs A
Dübs2504188960108Dübs A
Dübs2604189061109Dübs A1421
Dübs2605189062110Dübs A
Dübs2606189063111Dübs A
Dübs2607189064112Dübs A
Dübs2608189065113Dübs A
Dübs2609189066114Dübs A
Dübs2610189067115Dübs A
Dübs2611189068116Dübs A1417
Dübs2612189069117Dübs A1427
Dübs2613189070118Dübs A1428
Dübs2614189071119Dübs A1425
Dübs2615189072192Belpaire
Dübs2616189073120Dübs A
Dübs2617189074121Dübs A
Dübs2618189075122Dübs A1420
Dübs2619189076123Dübs A
Dübs2620189077124Dübs A
Dübs2621189078125Dübs A
Dübs2622189079126Dübs A
Dübs2623189080193Belpaire1423
Dübs2624189081127Dübs A
Dübs2625189082128Dübs A1419
Dübs2626189083129Dübs A1433
Dübs2627189084130Dübs A
Dübs2628189085131Dübs A
Dübs2965189286132Dübs A
Dübs2966189287133Dübs A
Dübs2967189288134Dübs A
Dübs3317189589135Dübs A1422
Dübs3318189590136Dübs A1426
Dübs3319189591137Dübs A
Dübs3320189592138Dübs A
Dübs3321189593139Dübs A
Dübs3322189594140Dübs A
Dübs3363189695141Dübs A
Dübs3364189696142Dübs A
Dübs3365189697143Dübs A
Dübs3366189698144Dübs A
Dübs3367189699145Dübs A
Dübs33681896100146Dübs A
Dübs34771897101147Dübs A1434
Dübs34781897102148Dübs A
Dübs34791897103149Dübs A
Dübs34801897104150Dübs A
Dübs34811897105151Dübs A1431
Dübs34821897106152Dübs A
Dübs34831897107153Dübs A
Dübs34841897108154Dübs A1416
Dübs34851897109194Belpaire
Dübs34861897110155Dübs A
Dübs36041898111156Dübs A
Dübs36051898112157Dübs A1432
Dübs35561898113158Dübs A1415
Dübs35571898114187Belpaire
Dübs35581898115159Dübs A
Dübs35591898116160Dübs A
Dübs35601898117161Dübs A
Dübs35611898118165Dübs A
Dübs35621898119162Dübs A
Dübs35631898120166Dübs A1424
Dübs35641898121163Dübs A1435
Dübs35651898122164Dübs A
Dübs35661898123188Belpaire
Dübs35671898124195Belpaire
Dübs38111899125167Dübs A
Dübs38121899126168Dübs A
Dübs38131899127169Dübs A
Dübs38141899128170Dübs A
Dübs38151899129171Dübs A
Dübs38161899130172Dübs A
Dübs38171899131173Dübs A
Dübs38181899132189Belpaire
Dübs38191899133196Belpaire
Dübs38201899134190Belpaire1418
Dübs38211899135174Dübs A
Dübs38221899136175Dübs A
Dübs38231899137176Dübs A
Dübs38241899138177Dübs A
Dübs38251899139178Dübs A
Dübs38261899140179Dübs A
Dübs38271899141191Belpaire1430
Dübs38281899142180Dübs A
Dübs38291899143181Dübs A1429
Dübs38301899144182Dübs A
Dübs38311899145183Dübs A
Dübs38321899146184Dübs A
Dübs38331899147185Dübs A
Dübs38341899148186Dübs A
SAR1915332Belpaire
SAR1915333Belpaire

Illustration

The main picture shows SAR Class A Belpaire no. 196 at Masons Mill on 10 December 2010. Those following illustrate the short and long smokebox versions of the locomotive and some of the post-delivery changes which were made, such as the altered cab for better crew protection.