International Railroad Discussion > Fire Engines

In a lovely broadside a pair of former South African Railway locomotives, a Class 1 4-8-0 and a Class 14R 4-8-2 head up a Greenside Colliery train destined for the SAR interchange at Blackhill, South Africa.

The Class 1 locomotives were designed by D.A. Hendrie as Class B for the Natal Government Railways and built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1904.

The Class 14 locos were a development of the Class 12 4-8-2 also designed by D. A. Hendrie, in 1913. At this time Hendrie was the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the South African Railways. All 45 of the class were built in three groups between 1913 and 1915 by Robert Stephenson and Company. In the 1930’s many SAR locomotives were re-boilered with a standard boiler developed by then CME A.G. Watson. Class 14 locos receiving this new boiler were given an “R” designation, hence Class 14R.

Greenside Colliery had two of each class and was known for maintaining their locomotives to a high standard, with all four surviving to the end of steam operations in 1995.

Anyway, they’re red, they burn coal and are making smoke. Ergo, they are fire engines, right?

Photo by Allen A. Jorgensen, Co-author with Charles P. Lewis, and Dusty Durrant of Steam on the Veld and The Great Steam Trek.

Cheers,
Jack



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/17 16:21 by africansteam.

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Too bad I was a poor college kid at the time, that would have been fun to see. Great photo, were any preserved?

Posted from iPhone

Very nice, I think I can smell them from Wales.

Who said steam locos only look good in black?