Soctia 0-6-2 Locomotives in South_Africa

Class Scotia (Locobase 20767)

Data from "Namaqualand 0-6-2 Scotia Class" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 26 July 2020. See also Peter Bagshw, Locomotives of the Namaqualand Railway and Copper Mines (1st ed.). (Stenvalls, 2012) Works numbers were T246, T258, T261 in 1890-1893. (For much more on the Namaqualand Railway, see Piet Conrad, "[]-africa.blogspot.com/search/label/*%20Namaqualand%20Railway", on the old STEAM LOCOMOTIVES in South Africa blog

at []-africa.blogspot.com/search/label/*%20Namaqualand%20Railway, last accessed 26 July 2020.)

The NR was satisfied with the radial tank with separate tender layout first delivered as the Clara class (20766) in 1890. So it went back to Kitsons to purchase six more. All were named after British-ruled governments: Scotia, Hibernia, Cambria, Canada, Australia, and India. A spotting feature was the position of the dome which was located just over the gap between the first two axles.

To combat the poor water and improve evaporation, the new engines had bigger grates, longer fireboxes with more heating surface area, and slightly shorter boilers. They also put more weight on the drivers. The first four engines had the 73 1/2 sq ft firebox areas, the last two were credited with 72 1/2 sq ft. (6.74 sq m). Scotia had 132 boiler tubes, Hibernia and Cambria 136 tubes, and the last three 137 tubes.

The NR tested a steel boiler in place of the original copper vessel in 1903 and procured two more as spares in 1907-1908. All of them were fitted with shielding protecting the running gear and the rare J Hawthorn-Kitson valve gear..

Peter Bagshaw, Wikipedia's primary source, most likely provided the details of how Jack Meadows, the O'okiep station master, single-handedly provided the twice-weekly service on the Namaqualand Railway during the worldwide depression of the 1930s. In addition to providing conductor and bookeeping duties on the trains, he worked as port captain when the train arrived at Port Nolloth. "As a result," Wikipedia reports, "the line was kept in good repair during the lean years.

Perhaps because Meadows couldn't do everything, the Scotia class dwindled and by 1939-1940, only three were still listed on the roster.