South African Class 19B 4-8-2

South African Classes 19B & 19BR 4-8-2

300px No. 1412 taking water at Blouwater, c. 2001

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer South African Railways Builder Berliner Maschinenbau Serial number 9827-9840 Model Class 19B Build date 1930 Total produced 14

Specifications Configuration 4-8-2 "Mountain" Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge Leading dia 28.5 in (724 mm) Driver diameter 54 in (1,372 mm) Trailing dia 34 in (864 mm) Wheelbase Total: 58 ft 8.75 in (17,901 mm) Engine: 6 ft 4 in (1,930 mm) bogie 14 ft 5 in (4,394 mm) coupled 32 ft 3 in (9,830 mm) total Tender: 4 ft 7 in (1,397 mm) bogie 16 ft 9 in (5,105 mm) total Length 67 ft 3.625 in (20,514 mm) total Height 12 ft 10.875 in (3,934 mm) Frame Bar frame Axle load 12.95 long tons (13.2 t) on 3rd driver Adhesive weight 51.2 long tons (52.0 t) Loco weight 78.7 long tons (80.0 t) Tender weight 48,864 lb (22.2 t) empty 52.35 long tons (53.2 t) w/o Loco & tender weight 158,800 lb (72.0 t) empty 131.05 long tons (133.2 t) w/o Tender type MR - MP, MP1, MR, MX, MY, MY1 permitted * 2 axle bogies * 34 in (864 mm) wheels * Length 25 ft 9.75 in (7,868 mm) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 10 long tons (10.2 t) Water cap 4,600 imp gal (21,000 L) Boiler 5 ft (1,524 mm) inside diameter 20 ft 2 in (6,147 mm) inside length 8 ft (2,438 mm) pitch Boiler pressure Firegrate area 37 sq ft (3.437 m2) as built 36 sq ft (3.345 m2) reboilered Heating surface 2,176 sq ft (202.157 m2) as built 1,839 sq ft (170.849 m2) reboilered  • Tubes As built: 120 tubes 2.25 in (57 mm) diameter 21 tubes 5.5 in (140 mm) diameter 2,036 sq ft (189.151 m2) Reboilered: 76 tubes 2.5 in (64 mm) diameter 24 tubes 5.5 in (140 mm) diameter 1,700 sq ft (157.935 m2)  • Flues 13 sq ft (1.208 m2) as built 16 sq ft (1.486 m2) reboilered  • Firebox 127 sq ft (11.799 m2) as built 123 sq ft (11.427 m2) reboilered Superheater:  • Heating area 506 sq ft (47.009 m2) as built 404 sq ft (37.533 m2) reboilered Cylinders Two Cylinder size 21 in (533 mm) bore 26 in (660 mm) stroke Valve gear Walschaerts (1401–1413) Caprotti (1414)

Performance figures Tractive effort 31,850 lbf (142 kN) at 75% pressure

Career Operators South African Railways Class Class 19B, Class 19BR Number in class 14 Numbers 1401–1414 Nicknames Baby Delivered 1930 First run 1930 Withdrawn 1977

The South African Railways Class 19B 4-8-2 of 1930 is a steam locomotive.

In 1930 the South African Railways placed fourteen Class 19B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service. One of them was later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19BR.

Manufacturer

The South African Class 19B 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotive was a later model of the original Class 19. It was virtually identical to the Class 19 apart from the wheelbase of the front bogie, which had been increased from 6 feet 2 inches (1,880 millimetres) to 6 feet 4 inches (1,930 millimetres) in order to improve the clearance between the cylinders and the bogie wheels, since the bogie wheels of predecessors Class 19 and Class 19A fouled the cylinder covers on sharp curves. Because of this difference they were classified as Class 19B.

They were built in Germany by Berliner Maschinenbau AG (BMAG), the former L. Schwartzkopff, and delivered in 1930, numbered in the range from 1401 to 1414. All but one were built with Walschaerts valve gear.

Number 1414 was equipped with Caprotti valve gear as an experiment. After thirteen years, however, the Caprotti valve gear was removed at the Uitenhage workshops in 1943 and replaced with Walschaerts valve gear. The experiment did result in the successor Class 19C being built with Rotary Cam Poppet valve gear.

Watson Standard boilers

File:SAR Class 19B 1412 (4-8-2) ID.JPG

x100px

From the 1930s many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by then Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) A.G. Watson as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.

When Class 19B no. 1410 was reboilered with a Watson Standard no. 1A boiler, it therefore became the sole Class 19BR. It was not equipped with a Watson cab with its distinctive slanted front in the process, but retained its original vertical fronted cab. It did, however, have the tell-tale rectangular regulator cover just to the rear of the chimney that identified it as a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive.

Service

South African Railways

Some Class 19B locomotives served around Cape Town and between Kimberley and Vryburg, but most of them spent their working lives on the line between Graaff Reinet and Rosmead across the Lootsberg Pass, until they were eventually replaced by Class 19D locomotives. A couple were also allocated to Sydenham in Port Elizabeth and occasionally worked on the Grahamstown branch. By 1977 they were all withdrawn from service.

Industrial

After being retired from SAR service, several were sold into a second career in industrial service.

• Number 1402 went to New Largo Colliery in Transvaal and later to the Enyati Railway.
• Numbers 1407 and 1409 went to Lorraine Gold Mine in the Orange Free State.
• Numbers 1410 and 1411 went to the Free State Geduld Gold Mine as numbers 8 and 7 respectively. They later became Freegold North numbers 10 and 11.
• Number 1413 went to the Fluor for Sasol plant in Transvaal.

Illustration

When retired, no. 1412 was initially plinthed at Middelburg in the Cape Province and later restored. The main picture shows the Transnet National Collection’s preserved Class 19B no. 1412 taking water at Blouwater before piloting a Class GMAM Garratt and the Union Express across the Lootsberg Pass, c. 2001.

• SAR Class 19B 1413 (4-8-2).jpg

  No. 1413 at Secunda with Sasol-applied smoke deflectors, c. 1980

• SAR Class 19B (4-8-2).jpg

  A Class 19B on a Cape Town suburban train, c. 1940

• SAR Class 19B (4-8-2) Daisy.jpg

  Class 19B "Daisy" on a passenger train, taking water, c. 1940

• SAR Class 19B 1412 (4-8-2) T.JPG

  Type MR tender on no. 1412, Voorbaai, 19 October 2009

• Class 19BR no. 1410.jpg

  Reboilered Class 19BR no. 1410 at Sydenham, Port Elizabeth