1.
South African Class 7E 4-8-0
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The South African Railways Class 7E 4-8-0 of 1899 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope. In 1899, the New Cape Central Railway placed one Cape 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotive in service, another three were commissioned in 1900, two more in 1903 and another one in 1904. In 1925, when the New Cape Central Railway was amalgamated into the South African Railways, in 1894, the NCCR began work to extend the line to Swellendam. From there, it continued via Heidelberg to Riversdale, which was reached on 3 December 1903, the tracks were originally laid with 46 1⁄2 pounds per yard rail. When Voorbaai near Mosselbaai was reached in 1904,211 miles from Worcester, the original Cape 7th Class locomotive had been designed in 1892 by H. M. Beatty, at the time the Cape Government Railways Western System Locomotive Superintendent. The NCCR acquired its first seven Cape 7th Class locomotives piecemeal over a period of five years,1, was ordered from Neilson, Reid and Company in 1899, followed by three more from the same manufacturer in 1900, numbered in the range from 2 to 4. The seventh 7th Class locomotive, no,7, was acquired in 1904, also built by NBL. On the NBL works list, this locomotive is shown as actually having been built for Pauling and Company, the Class 7E builders, years built, works numbers and renumbering are listed in the table. In SAR service, the Class 7 family served on every system in the country, by April 1962, two Class 7Es, numbers 1347 and 1348, were still shedded at Touws River to work the Ladismith branch. The Class 7Es were long-lived and these last two engines of the class were withdrawn from service in 1965
2.
Cape Government Railways
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The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910. The first railways at the Cape were privately owned, the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company started construction from Cape Town in 1859, reaching Eerste River by 1862 and Wellington by 1863. Meanwhile, by 1864 the Wynberg Railway Company had connected Cape Town, for the moment, railway development at the Cape did not continue eastwards beyond Wellington because of the barrier presented by the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley that started in 1871, in his very first speech to the Cape Parliament he announced the purchase of all existing lines and the founding of the Cape Government Railways. The announced expansion was to see the construction of a network over ten times more extensive than the length of railway that existed in the whole of southern Africa at the time. This gauge went on to become the standard for all railways in southern, the government planned for lines to strike northwards, from the three ports of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London, towards Kimberley and the developing hinterland. These three lines became known as the Cape Western, Cape Midland and Cape Eastern lines respectively, the Cape Western Line was charted by the Prime Minister himself. The Cape Midland Line only began when the Cape Government took over the rudimentary and incomplete line of the Port Elizabeth, however building accelerated massively over the next few years, with twin lines reaching northwards to Graaff-Reinet, and eastwards to Grahamstown. These connected with the Cape Western Line at De Aar and thus to Kimberley, the Cape Eastern Line was built partially to serve the frontier, and its network of military forts. The port of East London was likewise chosen partly for strategic reasons, the line was begun in 1873, when the Prime Minister turning the first spades for both the East London harbour and the Eastern Railway Line on 20 August 1873. Though frontier wars disrupted construction from time to time, the line reached Queenstown in 1880, from an initial total of 92 kilometres in 1872, the Cape was now criss-crossed with over 2,000 kilometres of railway. In 1886 gold was discovered in the South African Republic, setting off the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and this line reached Bloemfontein in 1890, and the first trains operated from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 1892. In 1897 the OFS government took control of its portion of the line. The Cape railway network played a significant role in supporting and supplying the British forces during the Second Boer War, Cape Gauge Rail transport in South Africa Kleingeld, Christo. Locomotives of the South African Railways, ISBN 0-86977-211-2 Burman, Jose, Early Railways at the Cape, Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, ISBN 0-7981-1760-5
3.
North British Locomotive Company
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Its main factories were located at the neighbouring Atlas and Hyde Park Works in central Springburn, as well as the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. The two other Railway works in Springburn were St. Rollox railway works, owned by the Caledonian Railway and Cowlairs railway works, latterly both works were operated by British Rail Engineering Limited after rail nationalisation in 1948. In 1918 NBL produced the first prototype of the Anglo-American Mark VIII battlefield tank for the Allied armies, NBL built steam locomotives for countries all over the world. This included North America, South America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Asia, the New South Wales Government Railways purchased numerous North British locomotives, as did the Victorian Railways as late as 1951. The Western Australian Government Railways also purchased many North British Locomotives, between 1903 and 1959 NB supplied many locomotives of various classes to Egyptian State Railways. They included 40 of the 545 class 2-6-0 in 1928, between 1921 and 1925, NBL supplied New Zealand Government Railways with 85 NZR AB class locomotives. The whole fleet of AB class engines numbered 143, as built, in 1935 NB supplied six Palestine Railways P class 4-6-0 locomotives to haul main line trains between Haifa and the Suez Canal. In 1939 NB supplied 40 4-8-2 locomotives to the New Zealand Railways Department, in 1951 NB supplied another 16 JA class, though these did not have the American-style streamlining of the J class. Together with the NB predecessor firms, North British supplied about a quarter of the locomotives used by the NZR. In 1949 South African Railways bought more than 100 2-8-4 locomotives from NBL, additionally South Africa also purchased some of its Class 25, 4-8-4 engines from the company between 1953–55. These successful engines with various in-service modifications survived until the end of steam in South Africa in 1992, NB also introduced the Modified Fairlie locomotive in 1924. In total South Africa purchased over 2,000 locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company. As of January 2010, Umgeni Steam Railway operates SAR Class 3BR engine 1486 and she hauls vintage sightseeing trains some coaches of which date back to 1908. In 1953, RENFE in Spain acquired 25 2-8-2 locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company, one example, 141F2111 is preserved in working order. After 1923, customers included the Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, Northern Counties Committee, Southern Railway, War Department. In 1922 the New Zealand Railways Department ordered a batch of its very successful AB class Pacifics from NBL, to be built, the trio 22878,22879 and 22880 were built amidst this batch. 22878 and 22879 were loaded aboard SS Wiltshire and she sailed for Auckland, New Zealand, remnants of both locomotives, and the Wiltshire can be seen on the sea floor. 22880 was dispatched on a subsequent sailing and was put into service in New Zealand as AB class number 745 and this locomotive was in service for more than 30 years but then hit a washout near Hawera
4.
Whyte notation
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The notation counts the number of leading wheels, then the number of driving wheels, and finally the number of trailing wheels, groups of numbers being separated by dashes. Other classification schemes, like UIC classification and the French, Turkish and Swiss systems for steam locomotives, in the notation a locomotive with two leading axles in front, then three driving axles and then one trailing axle is classified as 4-6-2. Articulated locomotives such as Garratts, which are two locomotives joined by a common boiler, have a + between the arrangements of each engine. Thus a double Pacific type Garratt is a 4-6-2+2-6-4, for Garratt locomotives the + sign is used even when there are no intermediate unpowered wheels, e. g. the LMS Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2. This is because the two units are more than just power bogies. They are complete engines, carrying fuel and water tanks, the + sign represents the bridge that links the two engines. Simpler articulated types such as Mallets, have a frame under a common boiler where there are no unpowered wheels between the sets of powered wheels. Typically, the frame is free to swing, whereas the rear frame is rigid with the boiler. Thus a Union Pacific Big Boy is a 4-8-8-4, four leading wheels, one group of eight driving wheels, another group of eight driving wheels and this numbering system is shared by duplex locomotives, which have powered wheel sets sharing a rigid frame. No suffix means a tender locomotive, T indicates a tank locomotive, in European practice, this is sometimes extended to indicate the type of tank locomotive, T means side tank, PT pannier tank, ST saddle tank, WT well tank. T+T means a tank locomotive that also has a tender, in Europe, the suffix R can signify rack or reversible, the latter being Bi-cabine locomotives used in France. The suffix F indicates a fireless locomotive, other suffixes have been used, including ng for narrow-gauge and CA or ca for compressed air. In Britain, small diesel and petrol locomotives are classified in the same way as steam locomotives. This may be followed by D for diesel or P for petrol, thus 0-6-0DE denotes a six-wheel diesel locomotive with electric transmission. Where the axles are coupled by chains or shafts or are individually driven, thus 4wPE indicates a four-wheel petrol locomotive with electric transmission. For large diesel locomotives the UIC classification is used, the main limitation of Whyte Notation is that it does not cover non-standard types such as Shay locomotives, which use geared trucks rather than driving wheels. The most commonly used system in Europe outside the United Kingdom is UIC classification, based on German practice, in American practice, most wheel arrangements in common use were given names, sometimes from the name of the first such locomotive built. For example, the 2-2-0 type arrangement is named Planet, after the 1830 locomotive on which it was first used, the most common wheel arrangements are listed below
5.
4-8-0
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In North America and in some other countries the type was usually known as the Mastodon and sometimes as the Twelve-wheeler. It appears to have delivered in a cab-forward type of configuration that was modified to a Camel configuration in 1864. On a Camel locomotive the cab was mounted atop the boiler, unlike the later Camelback locomotive whose cab straddled the boiler and that first appeared around 1877. The name Mastodon for the 4-8-0 wheel arrangement was derived from the name of the first 4-8-0 locomotive of the Central Pacific Railroad in the United States. 229, which was designed and built in 1882 by the master mechanic, Andrew Jackson Stevens. The 4-8-0 wheel arrangement saw service in Australia from 1900, in Tasmania, the privately owned Emu Bay Railway ordered four 4-8-0 tender locomotives for their 3 ft 6 in gauge system. In 1911, another locomotive was delivered from the North British Locomotive Company, two of these locomotives are preserved. A new class of 4-8-0 locomotive, the T class, designed in South Australia for use on the narrow gauge 3 ft 6 in gauge system of the South Australian Railways, was introduced in 1903. It proved to be a workhorse and by 1917 there were 78 locomotives in the class. These were converted back to narrow gauge in 1949, during the Second World War, the Commonwealth Railways obtained four of these South Australian narrow gauge locomotives on loan. Several of these locomotives are preserved, the Queensland Government Railways introduced its C16 class of 4-8-0 locomotives in 1903, built at its Ipswich workshops. Altogether 152 of these locomotives were in service by 1917, during the Second World War, the Commonwealth Government also acquired eleven C16 class locomotives on loan. Only one example of class was preserved. The QGR’s superheated C17 class entered service from 1920, the Commonwealth Railways also ordered 22 locomotives of the same design for their narrow gauge rail system, designated the NM class. In total, the C17 class eventually numbered 227 locomotives, of twenty are preserved. In 1922, the QGR ordered 22 new 4-8-0 locomotives and designated them the C19 class and they were the largest conventional type locomotives to operate on the QGR. In Austria, the 4-8-0 wheel arrangement was used for express locomotives, the Class 570 locomotive was introduced in 1915 and the class 113 locomotive of the Austrian Federal Railways was introduced in 1923. From 1938, both classes were re-designated as Class 33 on the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the line through Bechuanaland Protectorate was still under construction and was operated by the CGR on behalf of the BR at the time
6.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
7.
3 ft 6 in gauge railways
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Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire, there are approximately 112,000 kilometres of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world. 1795 One of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, other 3 ft 6 in gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. 1862 In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Norway,1865 In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its 3 ft 6 in gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon,1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a 3 ft 6 in railway in Costa Rica. 1871 In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway,1872 In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of 3 ft 6 in gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways, Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance. 1872 also saw the opening of the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan,1873 On 1 January 1873, the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in and broad gauge railways were converted to the narrower gauge. Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the 3 ft 6 in gauge, after conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger, the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa. 1876 Natal also converted its short 10 kilometres long Durban network from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in broad gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, after 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous 3 ft 6 in gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge. An alternate name for this gauge, Cape gauge, is named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, the term Cape Gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1065 mm instead of 1067 mm, the gauge is sometimes referred to as CAP gauge, after C. A. The gauge name Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand, in Australia the imperial term 3 foot 6 inch is used. In some Australian publications the term medium gauge is also used, in Japan 1,067 mm gauge is referred to as kyōki, which directly translates as narrow gauge. It is defined in metric units, Cape Government Railways Heritage railway List of track gauges Norwegian gauge controversy South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia Why Did Japan Choose the 36 Narrow Gauge
8.
Leading wheel
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The leading wheel or leading axle or pilot wheel of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the wheels are normally located on a leading truck. Leading wheels are used to help the locomotive negotiate curves and to support the front portion of the boiler, importantly, the leading bogie does not have simple rotational motion about a vertical pivot, as might first be thought. It must also be free to slip sideways to a small extent, the sliding bogie of this type was patented by William Adams in 1865. The first use of leading wheels is commonly attributed to John B, Jervis who employed them in his 1832 design for a locomotive with four leading wheels and two driving wheels. In the Whyte system of describing locomotive wheel arrangements, his locomotive would be classified as a 4-2-0, in the UIC classification system, which counts axles rather than wheels and uses letters to denote powered axles, the Jervis would be classified 2A. Locomotives without leading trucks are generally regarded as unsuitable for high speed use, the British Railway Inspectorate condemned the practice in 1895, following an accident involving two 0-4-4s at Doublebois, Cornwall, on the Great Western Railway. A single leading axle increases stability somewhat, while a leading truck is almost essential for high-speed operation. The highest number of leading wheels on a locomotive is six as seen on the 6-2-0 Crampton type. Six-wheel leading trucks were not very popular, the Cramptons were built in the 1840s, but it was not until 1939 that the PRR used one on the S1. AAR wheel arrangement Adams axle Trailing wheel UIC classification Whyte notation
9.
Wheelbase
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In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles, the wheelbase is defined as the distance between the axle and the centerpoint of the driving axle group. In the case of a truck, the wheelbase would be the distance between the steering axle and a point midway between the two rear axles. The wheelbase of a vehicle equals the distance between its front and rear wheels, at equilibrium, the total torque of the forces acting on a vehicle is zero. So, for example, when a truck is loaded, its center of gravity shifts rearward, the amount the vehicle sinks will depend on counter acting forces like the size of the tires, tire pressure, and the stiffness of the suspension. If the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, extra torque is placed on the rear or front tire respectively, so, as is common experience, when the vehicle accelerates, the rear usually sinks and the front rises depending on the suspension. Likewise, when braking the front noses down and the rear rises, because of the effect the wheelbase has on the weight distribution of the vehicle, wheelbase dimensions are crucial to the balance and steering. For example, a car with a greater weight load on the rear tends to understeer due to the lack of the load on the front tires. This is why it is crucial, when towing a single-axle caravan, likewise, a car may oversteer or even spin out if there is too much force on the front tires and not enough on the rear tires. Also, when turning there is lateral torque placed upon the tires which imparts a turning force that depends upon the length of the distances from the CM. Wheelbases provide the basis for one of the most common vehicle size class systems, some luxury vehicles are offered with long-wheelbase variants to increase the spaciousness and therefore the luxury of the vehicle. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was given a version of the Rover 75 for official use. In contrast, coupé varieties of vehicles such as the Honda Accord are usually built on shorter wheelbases than the sedans they are derived from. The wheelbase on many commercially available bicycles and motorcycles is so short, relative to the height of their centers of mass, in skateboarding the word wheelbase is used for the distance between the two inner pairs of mounting holes on the deck. This is different from the distance between the centers of the two wheel pairs. A reason for this use is that decks are sold with prefabricated holes. It is therefore easier to use the holes for measuring and describing this characteristic of the deck. A common misconception is that the choice of wheelbase is influenced by the height of the skateboarder, however, the length of the deck would then be a better candidate, because the wheelbase affects characteristics useful in different speeds or terrains regardless of the height of the skateboarder
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