South African Class NG9 4-6-0

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

South African Class NG9 4-6-0
Class NG9, c. 1930
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Baldwin Locomotive Works Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Serial number 42301-42306 Build date 1915 Total produced 6
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-6-0  • UIC 2'Cn2 Driver 2nd coupled axle Gauge 2 ft (610 mm) narrow Leading dia. 22 in (559 mm) Coupled dia. 33 in (838 mm) Tender wheels 22 in (559 mm) Wheelbase 36 ft 10 in (11,227 mm) ​  • Axle spacing (Asymmetrical) 1-2: 3 ft 3 in (991 mm) 2-3: 3 ft (914 mm)  • Engine 13 ft 1 in (3,988 mm)  • Leading 4 ft (1,219 mm)  • Coupled 6 ft 3 in (1,905 mm)  • Tender 13 ft 7 in (4,140 mm)  • Tender bogie 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm) Length: ​  • Over couplers 44 ft 4+3⁄8 in (13,522 mm) Height 10 ft 4+1⁄4 in (3,156 mm) Axle load 5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg) ​  • Leading 4 LT (4,064 kg)  • 1st coupled 5 LT 7 cwt (5,436 kg)  • 2nd coupled 5 LT 16 cwt (5,893 kg)  • 3rd coupled 5 LT 2 cwt (5,182 kg)  • Tender bogie 10 LT 6 cwt (10,470 kg)  • Tender axle 5 LT 3 cwt (5,233 kg) average Adhesive weight 16 LT 5 cwt (16,510 kg) Loco weight 20 LT 5 cwt (20,570 kg) Tender weight 20 LT 16 cwt 2 qtr (21,160 kg) Total weight 41 LT 1 cwt 2 qtr (41,730 kg) Tender type 2-axle bogies Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 5 LT (5.1 t) Water cap. 1,250 imp gal (5,680 L) Firebox: ​  • Type Round-top  • Grate area 7.5 sq ft (0.70 m2) Boiler: ​  • Pitch 4 ft 8+5⁄16 in (1,430 mm)  • Diameter 3 ft 2+1⁄8 in (968 mm)  • Tube plates 10 ft 8 in (3,251 mm)  • Small tubes 67: 2 in (51 mm) Boiler pressure 180 psi (1,241 kPa) Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 43.4 sq ft (4.03 m2)  • Tubes 381 sq ft (35.4 m2)  • Total surface 424.4 sq ft (39.43 m2) Cylinders Two Cylinder size 11+3⁄4 in (298 mm) bore 16 in (406 mm) stroke Valve gear Walschaerts Valve type Slide Couplers Bell-and-hook
Performance figures Tractive effort 9,036 lbf (40.19 kN) @ 75%
Career Operators South African Railways Moçâmedes Railway Class Class NG9 Number in class 6 Numbers NG42-NG47 Delivered 1915-1916 First run 1915 Withdrawn 1951
The 2nd coupled axle had flangeless wheels

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.