Antwerp-Ghent 2-4-0 Locomotives in Belgium

Class 30 (Locobase 10307)

Data from "Locomotives of the Antwerp-Ghent Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VIII (25 April 1903), pp. 286-287

This pair of passenger tank engines (Saint Leonard works numbers 926-927) were built to operate on the B-A's odd gauge, but were also designed to be convertible to standard-gauge running. The transition as performed by Etat Belge-Ateliers de Saint Nicolas seems to have been a matter of taking the wheels and moving them outside the frames, adding the Westinghouse air brake system, and closing in the cab.

The author also firmly stated a preference for the old B-A color scheme -- emerald green with black and vermillion bands accessorized by polished brass chimney cap, steam dome, safety valve cover, and cylinder casings. The BSA's choice was deep brown - all over including the dome and cylinder casings, "...a change which is decidedly not an improvement as far as appearance is concerned." {Locobase suspects that whoever had to polish all that brass might have been pleased by the change.}