Nigeria Railways 2-8-2 Locomotives in Nigeria

Class 751 (Locobase 962)

Data from 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia--Export Locomotives; and American Locomotive Company data card for Class 282 S 144, Order No. Q-408 (April 1947) (Many thanks to Teemu Koivumaki for his 19 August 2024 email supplying key information for several Nigerian Railways classes.) Works numbers were 74423-74427, 75149-75157 in April 1947. (Ten more with road numbers 765-774--works numbers 77260-77269 of March 1949-- very likely presented the same specifications.)

Although the number board in the photo of this Cape Gauge Mikado class apparently shows 703, that number actually belonged to the NR's 4-8-2 Mountain octet of 1948. 751 weights and areas were slightly lower than the River class (Locobase ), but the power dimensions nearly matched the latter engines.

Class River (Locobase 8582)

Data from ([]), [], a reprint of the Vulcan magazine last accessed 14 July 2007; and "Nigerian Locomotives", Locomotive Magazine, (14 August 1948), pp. 127-128. (Thanks to Teemu Koivumaki for his 19 August 2024 email supplying key information for several Nigerian Railways classes.) Vulcan works numbers were 5608-5627 in 1947. Production of fifteen later engines ordered from Vulcan (6198-6212 in 1953) actually fell to Henschel & Sohn, whose works numbers ran from 26665 to 26679 in 1953.

Vulcan supplied the first 20 River class (works numbers 5608-5627) in 1947 ([]). Three arch tubes supported the firebox's brick arch and contributed 17 sq ft (1.58 sq m) of heating surface area. A Hulson tuyere type grate handled the low-calorie local coal (11,380 BTUs per pound vs the gold-standard 14,500 BTUs of Cardiff coal

Vulcan's 1954 contribution (works number 6198-6227) had the typical Belpaire firebox and a 4" (102 mm) bar frame that ran continuously from buffer beam on back. With this batch came roller bearings on all axles, including those of the tender. Ten-inch (254 mm) piston valves had maximum travels of 6.7 in (170 mm), which equates to a 78% maximum cut-off.

Class Sir Hugh Clifford (Locobase 20907)

Data from The Vulcan Foundry Locomotive Works catalogue, archived at [], Plate 42, last accessed 1 July 2021. See also "Three-Cylinder Locomotive for the Nigerian Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 31 (15 December 1925), pp. 374-375. (Many thanks to Jorge Cerezo Toledo for his 26 June 2021 email containing links to several sites including the Vulcan Catalogue referred to above.) Works numbers were 3783-3787 in 1925.

The NGR's Chief Mechanical Officer T O B Otway Ruthven established a set of requirements for freight hauling on the Cape Gauge that couldn't be met if the locomotive used the usual two cylinders. So he asked VFL to build him a quintet of these Mikados.

The boiler comprised a wide Belpaire firebox, combustion chamber, and tubes offering a nearly ideal 104:1 length/diameter ratio. Locating the third piston on the centerline under the boiler required a "special system of cross levers, connected to the outside valve spindles" to operate the centrally placed piston valve. Thus the two outside motions combined to open and close the buried piston valve. (The third cylinder is hinted at in the unequally long spacing between the first and second driving axles.)

The 801s were among the largest 2-8-2s to be built for the Cape gauge and among the very few to have three cylinders (See Locobase 14560 for Baldwin's octet delivered to the Manila Railway in 1928.) For that matter, very few three-cylinder locomotives operated on the narrow gauge.