South African Class 15F 4-8-2

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South African Class 15F 4-8-2
300px
No. 2940 "Lynette" at speed on the Johannesburg-Magaliesburg line, 6 April 1992
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Designer South African Railways
Builder Berliner Maschinenbau
Henschel and Son
North British Locomotive Company
Beyer, Peacock and Company
Order number BP 1554, 1555
Serial number Berliner 10820-10826
Henschel 23932-23945
NBL 24463-24506, 25536-25595, 25941-26040
BP 7082-7111
Model Class 15F
Build date 1938-1946
Total produced 255
Specifications
Configuration 4-8-2 "Mountain"
Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Leading dia 30 in (762 mm)
Driver diameter 60 in (1,524 mm)
Trailing dia 34 in (864 mm)
Wheelbase Total: 65 ft 6.3125 in (19,972 mm)
Engine:
6 ft 10 in (2,083 mm) bogie
15 ft 9 in (4,801 mm) coupled
35 ft 8 in (10,871 mm) total
Tender:
6 ft 2 in (1,880 mm) bogie
20 ft 5 in (6,223 mm) total
Length 73 ft 5.9375 in (22,401 mm)
Height 12 ft 11.5 in (3,950 mm)
Frame Bar frame
Axle load 18.1 long tons (18.4 t) on 2nd & 3rd drivers (2902-3056)
18.75 long tons (19.1 t) on 2nd & 3rd drivers (3057-3156)
Adhesive weight 70.7 long tons (71.8 t) (2902-3056)
74.5 long tons (75.7 t) (3057-3156)
Loco weight 106.6 long tons (108.3 t) (2902-2915 & 2917-2922)
108.25 long tons (110.0 t) (2916)
113.05 long tons (114.9 t) (2923-3056)
113.3 long tons (115.1 t) (3057-3156)
Tender weight Type JT:
66,416 lb (30.1 t) empty
69.4 long tons (70.5 t) w/o
Type ET:
67,648 lb (30.7 t) empty
69.4 long tons (70.5 t) w/o
Tender type 2902-3056: JT - JT, JV permitted
* 2 axle bogies
* 34 in (864 mm) wheels
* Length 30 ft 9.0625 in (9,374 mm)
3057-3156: ET - ET, EW permitted
* 2 axle bogies
* Wheels 34 in (864 mm) dia
* Length 30 ft 9.4375 in (9,384 mm)
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity 14 long tons (14.2 t)
Water cap Type JT: 6,000 imp gal (27,000 L)
Type ET: 5,620 imp gal (25,500 L)
Boiler 6 ft 2.25 in (1,886 mm) inside diameter
22 ft 6 in (6,858 mm) inside length
9 ft 2.5 in (2,807 mm) pitch
Boiler pressure Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).
Firegrate area 63 sq ft (5.853 m2)
Heating surface 3,400 sq ft (315.870 m2)
 • Tubes 136 tubes 2.5 in (64 mm) diameter
36 tubes 5.5 in (140 mm) diameter
3,168 sq ft (294.317 m2)
 • Flues 26 sq ft (2.415 m2)
 • Firebox 206 sq ft (19.138 m2)
Superheater:
 • Heating area		 676 sq ft (62.802 m2)
Cylinders Two
Cylinder size 24 in (610 mm) bore
28 in (711 mm) stroke
Valve gear Walschaerts
Loco brake Pre-war models: Steam
Post-war models: Vacuum
Performance figures
Tractive effort 42,340 lbf (188 kN) at 75% pressure
Career
Operators South African Railways
Class Class 15F
Number in class 255
Numbers 2902–3156
Delivered 1938-1946
First run 1938

The South African Railways Class 15F 4-8-2 of 1938 is a steam locomotive.

The Class 15F was the most numerous steam locomotive class in South African Railways service. Between 1938 and 1946 two hundred and fifty-five of these steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement were placed in service.[1][2][3]

Manufacturers

The Class 15F 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotive was designed by W.A.J. Day, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1936 to 1939, and was built in four batches by four locomotive manufacturers in Germany and the United Kingdom over a period of eight years spanning World War II.[4]

  • The first twenty-one were built in Germany in 1938. Seven were delivered by Berliner Maschinenbau, numbered in the range from 2902 to 2908, and fourteen by Henschel and Son, numbered in the range from 2909 to 2922.[5]
  • Another forty-four were built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) of Glasgow in 1938. They were delivered in 1939, numbered in the range from 2923 to 2966.[6]
  • Locomotive building was interrupted by World War II, but because of a critical motive power shortage that developed in South Africa during the war, manufacturing of the Class 15F was resumed even before hostilities had ceased. In 1944 production started on thirty locomotives by Beyer, Peacock and Company (BP), delivered later that same year and numbered in the range from 2967 to 2996.[7]
  • In 1945 sixty were built and delivered by NBL, numbered in the range from 2997 to 3056.[6]
  • The final batch of one hundred Class 15Fs were built by NBL in 1946 and 1947 and delivered between 1946 and 1948, numbered in the range from 3057 to 3156.[6]

The table shows the Class 15F engine numbers, builders, year built and works numbers.[3][5][6][7]

Lineage

The Class 15F represented the ultimate stage in a long history of development spanning thirty years. The first Class 15 4-8-2 tender locomotive entered SAR service in 1914, sporting a 40 square feet (3.716 square metres) grate, a boiler pressure of Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value)., a maximum axle load of 16.5 long tons (16.8 tonnes) and Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). diameter coupled wheels. Later orders incorporated major improvements in succession, until the Class 15CA was commissioned in 1926 with a 48 square feet (4.459 square metres) grate, a boiler pressure of Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value)., a maximum axle load of 17.75 long tons (18.0 tonnes) and Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). diameter coupled wheels.[8][9]

Attributes

Valve gear

The locomotive was similar to its predecessor Class 15E, but it was built with Walschaerts valve gear as specified by CME W.A.J. Day, who was not a protagonist of RC Poppet valve gear. This and some other differences led to it being classified 15F.[4]

Watson Standard boilers

The Class 15F was delivered with a Watson Standard no. 3B boiler and a Watson cab. During the 1930s Day’s predecessor as CME, A.G. Watson, designed a standard boiler type as part of his standardisation policy. Many serving locomotives were reboilered with these Watson Standard boilers and in the process they were also equipped with Watson cabs, with their distinctive slanted fronts compared to the conventional vertical fronts of their original cabs. New locomotives that were acquired in the Watson era and later, such as the Class 15F, were built with such boilers and cabs.[2][4]

Pre-war models

The pre-war Class 15Fs were hand stoked and were delivered without smoke deflectors. The original twenty-one Berliner and Henschel-builts remained hand-fired for their full working lives. On the pre-war NBL-builts, on the other hand, provision was made in the design to later convert them to mechanical stoking. A mechanical stoker was tested on number 2923 before the remaining locomotives of that group were all equipped with such stokers by the late 1940s. Their brake systems consisted of steam brakes on the engines and vacuum brakes on the tenders.[1][8][9][10]

Post-war models

File:The British Locomotive Building Industry- the Production of Railway Locomotives, UK, 1945 D25803.jpg
Final steam test at NBL, c. 1945

The post-war locomotives were built to the design and specifications of Doctor M.M. Loubser, who succeeded W.A.J. Day as CME in 1939. The specifications included mechanical stokers, smoke deflectors, vacuum brakes on the driving wheels as well as the tenders, with two Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). brake cylinders on the engine and two Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). cylinders on the tender.[1][8][9][10]

Like the pre-war NBL-builts, the early post-war locomotives built by BP and NBL in 1944 and 1945 were delivered without mechanical stokers, but with provision made in their design for their subsequent conversion to mechanical stoking. All these were also equipped with stokers post-delivery. The locomotives in the final order from NBL, number 3057 and later, were delivered new complete with mechanical stokers.[10]

File:SAR Class 15F 3040 (4-8-2) ID.JPG

Apart from these differences, the post-war locomotives were identical to the earlier ones. Elephant ear smoke deflectors were later installed on the pre-war locomotives as well.[4]

The use of vacuum braking instead of steam braking became standard practice on locomotives from 1944 onwards and was welcomed by SAR drivers, who were always reluctant to make use of steam brakes for fear of skidding the locomotive wheels. The trigger on the steam brake attachment, for isolating the proportional device that admitted steam to the brake cylinder automatically upon the application of the vacuum brake, was invariably wedged down with a wooden peg by drivers to eliminate the steam brake entirely.[1]

Service

While the Class 15F was used predominantly in the Orange Free State and Western Transvaal, it also saw service in every system country-wide, including Garratt territory in Natal, where it was used on the line from Newcastle to Utrecht. The Class also briefly served on the Cape Eastern system when it worked out of East London in the early 1960s.[4]

Some briefly served outside South Africa’s borders. In 1978 six Class 15Fs were hired to Rhodesia Railways (RR), but they were returned nine months later and replaced by Class GMAM Garratts.[3]

When the Class 23 was retired, many Class 15F locomotives inherited their huge twelve wheel type EW tenders which, apart from increasing their range with its larger fuel and water capacity, also greatly enhanced their appearance. In later years, when the Class 15F was being relegated to heavy shunting and local work, many of the post-war locomotives had their mechanical stokers removed.[3]

Preservation

As would be expected, given its usefulness and the large quantity placed in service with the SAR, quite a few of this type have survived into preservation.

The Pretoria-based steam heritage club Friends of the Rail (FOTR) possesses two locomotives of this class, numbers 3094 and 3117.[11]

  • Number 3094 was in service with FOTR until its withdrawal in 2007 due to failing flexible stays surrounding the firebox. This locomotive was awaiting its turn to be overhauled in 2011.[12]
  • Number 3117 was restored by FOTR and returned to service in December 2008, after 17 years of standing idle. This locomotive was derailed near Cullinan due to sleeper theft in July 2009. It too was awaiting repairs by November 2011.[13][14][15]

The Germiston-based Reefsteamers has three Class 15F locomotives in its stable, no. 2914 "Spikkels", a hand-fired version, no. 3016 "Gerda" and no. 3046 "Janine". The latter was the club's only operational 15F as of February 2016. The boiler certificate is set to expire by July of 2016 effectively taking 3046 out of service for a while. The club is however in the process of restoring 3052 "Avril", the locomotive that David Shepard, OBE, famously traded a painting for at the 1991 steam festival. The locomotive is ultimately in the care of Sandstone Estates but a refurbishment contract was awarded to Reefsteamers late last year.[16]

Number 3007 was one of many built by NBL. In 2006 this locomotive was returned to its builder's home city, Glasgow in Scotland, where it was put on static display in George Square by the North British Locomotive Preservation Group for fundraising purposes.[17] The locomotive now resides in the Glasgow Museum of Transport collection at the new Riverside Museum.[18]

The move of number 3007 from its storage in the Bloemfontein locomotive depot to Glasgow was recorded in Series Three of the television series Monster Moves in 2008. The locomotive was originally to have been trucked to Durban by Moveright International, but the transporter was not capable of carrying the locomotive. Instead, it was towed by rail on a two-day journey across the country, with ten flat wagons used to augment the braking capacity of the locomotives that hauled the Class 15F.[17]

Commemoration

A 40c postage stamp depicting a Class 15F locomotive was one of a set of four commemorative postage stamps that were issued by the South African Post Office on 27 April 1983, to commemorate the steam locomotives of South Africa that were rapidly being withdrawn from service at the time. The artwork and stamp design was by the noted stamp designer and artist Hein Botha. The particular locomotive depicted was NBL-built Class 15F no. 2954. The outline of a traditional SAR locomotive number plate was used as a commemorative cancellation for De Aar on the date of release.[19]

Illustration

The main picture shows pre-war NBL-built no. 2940 "Lynette", with an ex Class 23 type EW tender, at speed near Princess station on the Johannesburg-Magaliesburg line on 6 April 1992.

  • SAR Class 15F 2916 (4-8-2).JPG

    Preserved Henschel-built no. 2916 with its original type JT tender at Monument station, Cape Town, 10 April 2010

  • SAR Class 15F 2928 (4-8-2).JPG

    Pre-war NBL-built no. 2928 with an ex Class 23 type EW tender, Bloemfontein, Free State, 14 October 2009

  • SAR Class 15F 2976 (4-8-2).JPG

    Preserved Beyer, Peacock-built no. 2976 at Bloemfontein Loco depot, 14 October 2009. It has a type ET tender

  • Steam locomotive 3007 in George Square.jpg

    Post-war NBL-built no. 3007 with a type ET tender arriving at George Square in Glasgow, 25 August 2007

  • SAR Class 15F 3040 Clocolan 090799.jpg

    Post-war NBL-built no. 3040 with an ex Class 23 type EW tender at Clocolan, Free State Province, 9 July 1999

  • Class15F-3046-01.jpg

    Post-war NBL-built no. 3046 with a type EW tender at Magaliesburg, Gauteng, 30 October 2010

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2’0" & 3’6" Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, pp21 & 21A, as amended
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Henschel-Lieferliste (Henschel & Son works list), compiled by Dietmar Stresow
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 North British Locomotive Company works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Beyer, Peacock and Company production list, excluding Garratts, Customer List V1 04.08.02
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 4-8-2 Class "15F" Locomotives for the South African Railways, reprinted from "The Railway Gazette" of 20 September 1946
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kleinplasie Farming Museum, Worcester
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Additional information received from Les Pivnic
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Philatelic Bulletin 176, issued by Philatelic Services and INTERSAPA, 1983

External links

External video
video icon South African Steam: 15F 3153 Magaliesburg Express 1994 Class 15F no. 3153 at Magaliesburg and during the return trip to Johannesburg in July 1994. (Time 6:17)
External video
video icon Class 15F no. 2916, Malmesbury to Moravia (16 June 2002) Class 15F no. 2916 at work between Malmesbury and De Hoek in the Swartland, on the Steam Loco Safari Tours trip in 2002. (Time 13:20)
External video
video icon Class 15F nos. 2916 and 3153, Malmesbury (17 June 2002) Steam Loco Safari Tours trip in 2002. Class 15F nos. 2916 and 3153 double heading from Malmesbury southwards on the following day. (Time 13:49)
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