Class 1/1A - Hendrie B (Locobase 4379)

Data from locomotive diagrams published on [] and 1941 Index of Diagrams of Steam Locomotives. See also Cdr J Plomer, "A Long Line of Mountains",

The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, No. 122 (April 1970), pp. 7-25 Works numbers were 16370-16419 in 1904.

As Plomer told the story, immediately after arriving from the Highland Railway as the NGR's new Locomotive Superintendent, Hendrie ordered 50 of these Twelve-wheelers from the newly formed Glasgow conglomerate. They were of a new design and travel time between Scotland and Cape Town, so to have the first one running on NGR rails by December 1904 was quite a feat.

Freight-haulers of an arrangement that was soon overtaken by the Mountains. Even so, these engines proved very successful in their own right. "[H]andsome machines with Belpaire fireboxes", Plomer reported, even though they had "not very high" drivers and low running boards. As boilers grew, the stacks grew "shorter and stouter." In 1907, the 280 received the first of Hendrie's own design of steam-reversing gear.

Another Hendrie innovation in 1907 took five of the 4-8-0s and placed a trailing axle behind the last set of drivers, creating a "4-8-2". The first of the new arrangement as built appeared in 1909; see Locobase 10735.

Class 1A followed in 1910.

Class 7B/7C - superheated (Locobase 16127)

Data from A E Durrant, The Smoke that Thunders (Harare, Zimbabwe: African Publishing Group, 1997), pp. 10-11. Works numbers 5160-5163 in 1897.

Produced at the same time as the three Class 6B Ten-wheelers shown in Locobase 16122, these Twelve-wheelers originally were intended as well for the Bechuanaland Railway in what became Rhodesia and arrived in Cape Town as their 4-7.

The boiler was about the same size, the grate a little bigger than the Class 6, but the extra axle spread the weight over more wheels and the Class 7s had significantly lower axle loadings.

Durrant explains that all four were taken into the CGR as part of their Class 7 and numbered 347-350. 4 and 6-7 received CGR numbers and were reboilered (Locobase 10540), but the 348 was sold to the Paulings construction company, which built the Rhodesia Katanga Junction Railway. Paulings already owned another Class 7 from the CGR (ex-398).

After its completion in 1909, the RKJ bought the 348 and 398. Both operated in northern Rhodesia until the late 1920s, when 398 was sold back to Paulings to support branch-line construction. 348 was withdrawn in January 1932, 398 in October 1933. Both were scrapped in March 1938.

Class 8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 85 (Locobase 10415)

Data from locomotive diagrams published on [] . See also long article in Locomotive Magazine: "New Engines for the Cape Government Railway", Vol IX (28 November 1903), p. 313; and South African Railways and Harbours 8 - 1941 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Other than the Queensland Railways' C16 class (Locobase 4388), this Twelve-wheeler was the most numerous bought by any narrow-gauge railway. It followed the prolifically procured Class 7s (Locobases 16128 and 16123), but H M Beatty's design adopted larger cylinders and a commensurately bigger boilers and rolled on taller drivers. A E Durrant noted the pervasive American influence on the design as shown by its bar frame and cylinders cast integrally with half saddles.

The LM report gives a grate area of 27.5 sq ft, but that applied only to the 8Es.

Interesting light-rail Twelve-wheeler produced in several batches:

Class Year Builder Road numbers

8 1902 Neilson, Reid & Co 358 - 365, 771 - 782 & 801 - 803

8A 1902 Neilson, Reid/Sharp, Stewart 401 - 440

8B 1903 Neilson, Reid/NBL 441 - 470

8C 1903 North British 471 - 500

8D 1903 Neilson, Reid/NBL 807 - 812, 366 - 384 & 783 - 794

8E 1903 Neilson, Reid 813 - 816

8F 1904 North British 829 - 838

The 8Bs were delivered with water tubes in the firebox to iincrease the heating surface area. 8Es had larger grates (27.5 sq ft) that developed cracks and leaks.

See Locobase 4381 for the superheated version.

Class 8/8A-8D - superheated (Locobase 4381)

Data from locomotive diagrams published on [] . See also long article in Locomotive Magazine: "New Engines for the Cape Government Railway", Vol IX (28 November 1903), p. 313.

Interesting light-rail Twelve-wheeler with a smaller boiler than the Class 1s (Locobase 4380), but superheated. Four of the 8As had larger superheaters (21 elements in 5.25" flues-- the latter's heating surface area increased to 243 sq ft.); these were 8AWs.