South African type XM3 tender


The South African type XM3 tender was a steam locomotive tender from the pre-Union era in the Transvaal.
The Type XM3 tender entered service in 1904, as tenders to the Pacific type steam locomotives which were acquired by the Central South African Railways in that year. In 1912, these locomotives retained their Class 9 designation on the South African Railways.

Manufacturer

Type XM3 tenders were built by Vulcan Foundry of Newton-le-Willows in England in 1904.
The Central South African Railways placed five Class 9 Pacific type locomotives in service in 1904. The locomotive and tender were designed in 1903 by P.A. Hyde, who assumed the position of Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CSAR upon its inception in July 1902.
The Type XM3 entered service as tenders to these locomotives, which were acquired to work the Durban-bound mail trains from Johannesburg as far as Charlestown on the Transvaal-Natal border.

Characteristics

As built, the tender had a coal capacity of and a water capacity of, with a maximum average axle load of.

Locomotives

In the South African Railways years, tenders were numbered for the engines they were delivered with. In most cases, an oval number plate, bearing the engine number and often also the tender type, would be attached to the rear end of the tender. During the classification and renumbering of locomotives onto the SAR roster in 1912, no separate classification and renumbering list was published for tenders, which should have been renumbered according to the locomotive renumbering list.
Only Class 9 locomotives were delivered new with Type XM3 tenders. Bearing in mind that tenders could and did migrate between engines, these tenders should have been numbered in the SAR number range from 727 to 731.

Classification letters

Since many tender types are interchangeable between different locomotive classes and types, a tender classification system was adopted by the SAR. The first letter of the tender type indicates the classes of engines to which it could be coupled. The "X_" tenders could be used with the locomotive classes as shown.
The second letter indicates the tender's water capacity. The "_M" tenders had a capacity of.
A number, when added after the letter code, indicates differences between similar tender types such as function, wheelbase or coal bunker capacity.