1.
South African Class 23 4-8-2
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The South African Railways Class 23 4-8-2 of 1938 was a steam locomotive. In 1938 and 1939, the South African Railways placed 136 Class 23 steam locomotives in service, the Class 23 was the last and the largest 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotive to be designed by the South African Railways. The Class 23 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotive was designed by W. A. J, day, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways from 1936 to 1939. It was intended as a general utility locomotive, capable of operating on 80 pounds per yard rail, and was built in two batches by Berliner Maschinenbau and Henschel and Son in Germany. The original order in 1938 was for twenty locomotives, of which Berliner built seven, numbered in the range from 2552 to 2558, ordering this quantity of a new class of engine before any had been tried out, constituted a record for the SAR. Of this second batch, Henschel built 85, numbered in the range from 3201 to 3285, the last locomotive of this second order was delivered in August 1939, just one month before the outbreak of the Second World War. Berliner-built locomotive no.3301 received a works number, Berliner no.10816 instead of no. 11000, since works number 11000 was reserved for the new Class 01.10 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive for the German State Railways, the increasing political turmoil in Europe and the resulting urgency, however, prohibited time being spent on designing a new boiler. As a result, the existing Watson Standard no, 3B boiler was incorporated in the design, with an extra long smokebox which was extended by 1 foot 6 inches to partially compensate for the shorter boiler. This boiler was one of the range of standard type boilers which was designed by Days predecessor as CME, A. G. Watson, the inner firebox was of steel and was fitted with five 3 inches diameter arch tubes, which supported the brick arch. The rocking grate, with two drop-grates, was actuated by a steam shaker, as was the practice with Watson Standard boilers, the hopper type ashpan was secured to the main frames instead of to the boiler foundation ring, with a 4 inches air gap all round. Drench pipes were fitted to facilitate cleaning and the bottom of the ashpan was fitted with a sliding door. Owing to axle load restrictions, however, it was necessary to reduce the capacity to 9,200 imperial gallons. The first batch of twenty locomotives were delivered with such tenders, the second batch of 116 locomotives were delivered with a modification to the tenders underframe. To improve the distribution, both tender pivot centres were relocated 6 inches towards the rear. This enabled the water capacity to be increased to 9,500 imperial gallons on these 116 tenders, four vacuum cylinders operated clasp brakes on all tender wheels and a hand brake was included. The mechanical stoker engine was mounted on the tender, during the 1930s, the streamlining of locomotives was fashionable in Europe and the United States of America. It was proposed to adopt streamlining on some of the Class 23 locomotives which were intended for the Cape mainline, the decorative plates were fitted to the sides of the smokebox, or to the elephant ears smoke deflectors of engines which were so equipped
2.
Henschel & Son
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Georg Christian Carl Henschel founded the factory in 1810 at Kassel. His son Carl Anton Henschel founded another factory in 1837, in 1848, the company began manufacturing locomotives. The factory became the largest locomotive manufacturer in Germany by the 20th century, Henschel built 10 articulated steam trucks, using Doble steam designs, for Deutsche Reichsbahn railways as delivery trucks. Several cars were built as well, one of which became Hermann Görings staff car, early in 1935, Henschel began manufacturing Panzer I tanks. During World War II, the firm was responsible for production of the Dornier Do 17Z medium bomber. Henschel was the manufacturer of the Tiger I and Tiger II. In 1945, the company had 8000 workers working in two shifts each of 12 hours, and forced labour was used extensively. Henschel Hs P.87, a similar to the Hs P.75, except that the canards in the front are straight. Henschel Zitterrochen, air-to-surface missile Manufacturing began again in 1948, in 1964, the company took over Rheinische Stahlwerke and became Rheinstahl Henschel AG, in 1976 Thyssen-Henschel, and 1990 ABB Henschel AG. In 1996, the company became ABB Daimler Benz Transportation Adtranz, the company was subsequently acquired by Bombardier around 2002. The Kassel facility still exists and is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of locomotives, herbert A. Wagner <http, //www. steamlocomotive. info/vlocomotive. cfm. Display=1309> Henschels Mittelfeld Werkes Tiger tank factory Luft 46
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Janney coupler
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The Janney Coupler is a semi-automatic railway coupler. The earliest commercially successful version of the coupler, it was patented by Eli H. Janney in 1873. The AAR/APTA Type E, Type F, and Type H tightlock couplers are all compatible knuckle couplers, prior to the formation of the AAR these were known as MCB Couplers. After 1910 the MCB reconstituted itself into the AAR, in 1913 the American Steel Foundries had developed the new Type D coupler that was accepted as the standard coupler for the United States, and no new equipment could be built using any other coupler. It was and is still the most used knuckle coupler in the world, the modern Alliance coupler still uses the modern AAR-10 and/or -10A contour, as well as others, but cannot be used in the US on an interchanging railway. Brand names of the now standard AAR Type E, F and Tightlock couplers are ASF, Buckeye, the Interlocking contour of knuckle couplers was the first aspect to be standardized. In about 1910 the producers were all using the then standardized MCB-10 contour, in the 1930s the AAR Type D was improved and became the Type E, the contour, however, stayed the same. A few years later the 10 contour was modified into an optional standard called the 10A contour. The most modern contour, for a plain Type E knuckle coupler, is still the AAR-10 and -10A, the same MCB-10 contour has been an approved standard for interchange service for over 100 years, with only the slightest dimensional changes. The Type H Tightlock couplers, which are used on passenger-carrying rolling stock, the purpose of couplers is to join rail cars or locomotives to each other so they all are securely linked together. Major Eli Janney, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, Janney couplers are usually attached to draw gear, but sometimes, in the case of locomotives, the Type E is bolted directly on the headstock. The Janney coupler is used in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, China and elsewhere. Among its features, Maximum tonnage as high as 32,000 metric tons such as on the Fortescue Railway, minimum ultimate tensile strength, Grade E knuckles,650,000 pounds-force Grade C or Grade E knuckles are required for interchange service. Such as Victorian narrow gauge lines, Janney couplers are always right-handed, i. e. their shape resembles the human right hand with fingers curled, as viewed from above. Required coupler heights, in North AmericaEmpty cars,33.5 inches ± 1-inch Loaded cars,32.5 inches in ± 1-inch Janney couplers are uncoupled by lifting the pin with a lever at the corner of the car. This pin is locked when the coupler is under tension, so the usual uncoupling steps are to compress the coupling with a locomotive, lift and hold up the pin, side operated variants are called the Sharon or Buckeye coupler. Most Janney couplers are now bottom operated, trains fitted with Janney couplers can accommodate heavier loads than any other type of coupler. Thus, the heaviest coal trains in New Zealand use Janney couplings, also, long-distance freight trains in North America are commonly more than 1-mile long, whereas this is not seen in Europe, where most freight trains still use English buffers and chain couplers
6.
Karoo
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The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. There is no definition of what constitutes the Karoo. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology, and climate — above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, the Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. Today it is still a place of great heat and frosts, however, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible. The eastern and north-eastern Karoo are often covered by large patches of grassland, the typical Karoo vegetation used to support large game, sometimes in vast herds. Today sheep thrive on the xerophytes, though each sheep requires about 4 hectares of grazing to sustain itself, the Great Karoo lies to the north of the Swartberg range, the Little Karoo is to the south of it. The only sharp and definite boundary of the Great Karoo is formed by the most inland ranges of Cape Fold Mountains to the south, the extent of the Karoo to the north is vague, fading gradually and almost imperceptibly into the increasingly arid Bushmanland towards the north-west. To the north and north-east it fades into the savannah and grasslands of Griqualand West, the boundary to the east grades into the grasslands of the Eastern Midlands. The Great Karoo is itself divided by the Great Escarpment into the Upper Karoo, a great many local names, each denoting different subregions of the Great Karoo, exist, some more widely, or more generally, known than others. In the Lower Karoo, going from west to east, they are the Tankwa Karoo, the Moordenaarskaroo, the Koup, the Vlakte and the Camdeboo Plains. The Hantam, the Kareeberge, the Roggeveld and Nuweveld are the better known subregions of the Upper Karoo, though most of it is known as the Upper Karoo. The Little Karoo’s boundaries are defined by mountain ranges to the west. The road between Uniondale and Willowmore is considered, by convention, to form the approximate arbitrary eastern extremity of the Little Karoo and its extent is much smaller than that of the Great Karoo. Locally, it is called the Klein Karoo, which is Afrikaans for Little Karoo. The Great Karoo straddles the 30° S parallel on the west of the continent and it is furthermore in the rainfall shadow of the Cape Fold Mountains along the western coastline. The western Lower Karoo contain remnants of the Cape Fold Mountains which give it a moderate hilly appearance, the Upper Karoo has been intruded by dolerite sills, creating multiple flat topped hills, or Karoo Koppies, which are iconic of the Great Karoo. The vegetation of the Upper and Lower Karoo is similar, so few people make a distinction between the two. Thereafter they gradually ascend the Great Escarpment along a valley to Three Sisters on the Central Plateau
7.
South African Class 25NC 4-8-4
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The South African Railways Class 25NC 4-8-4 of 1953 was a steam locomotive. Between 1953 and 1955, the South African Railways placed fifty Class 25NC steam locomotives with a 4-8-4 Northern type wheel arrangement in service, the Class 25NC was the non-condensing version of the Class 25 condensing locomotive, of which ninety were placed in service at the same time. Between 1973 and 1980, all but three of the locomotives were converted to non-condensing and also designated Class 25NC. The Class 25NC non-condensing and Class 25 condensing 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotives were designed by the South African Railways under the direction of L. C, the Class 25NC was superheated and used piston valves, actuated by Walschaerts valve gear. The cylinders and frames were cast in one piece by Commonwealth Steel Castings Corporation in the United States of America, the steel cylinders and steam chests were fitted with cast iron liners. Being entirely mounted on bearings, very little effort was required to move these locomotives. The crossheads, of the Alligator type, were split on the centre line and clamped on to the end of the piston rods. The original coupling rods differed from the usual in being three separate rods, thereby doing away with four knuckle joints and pins, the multiple-valve superheater header was of the Melesco type. The boiler was fitted with four Ross Pop safety valves, each 2 1⁄2 inches in diameter, feedwater was delivered to the boiler by two Friedmann vertical type non-lifting injectors, each with a capacity of 5,200 imperial gallons per hour. Soon after being placed in service, problems were experienced with failing connecting rods, after investigations by SAR engineers, with assistance from the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the crossheads, slide bars and coupling rods were modified. The Class 25NC initially served on the unelectrified mainlines from De Aar via Kimberley to Klerksdorp and they initially worked through to Welverdiend as well, until electrification was extended from Welverdiend to Klerksdorp. In later years, they worked from Kimberley via Bloemfontein to Harrismith in the Free State. From 1982, Class 25NCs also replaced Class 19Ds and Class GMAM Garratts on the line from Warrenton via Vryburg to Mafikeng, along with the Class 25NC, ninety Class 25 condensing locomotives were built as part of the same order, one by Henschel and the rest by NBL. The condensing apparatus for these engines and their condensing tenders was designed and patented by Henschel, between 1973 and 1980, all but three of the ninety Class 25 condensers were converted to non-condensing locomotives and reclassified to Class 25NC, the exceptions being numbers 3451,3511 and 3540. The number plates of some were copied and recast with the additional NC for non-condensing squeezed in next to the existing 25, locomotives with all four characters neatly in line and centred were therefore usually identifiable as original Class 25NCs. Locomotives with these rebuilt tenders were soon nicknamed Worshond,3450, the last Class 25NC to be built, was rebuilt to the sole Class 26, the Red Devil, at the SAR workshops at Salt River in Cape Town. The primary objectives of the project were to improve the combustion and steaming rate, to reduce the emission of wasteful black smoke and to overcome the problem of clinkering. This was achieved by the use of a Gas Producer Combustion System and these extensive modifications justified reclassification and the locomotive became the first and only Class 26, although the locomotives original Class 25NC number was retained
8.
South African Class 26 4-8-4
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The South African Railways Class 26 4-8-4 of 1981 was a steam locomotive. The rebuilding took place at the Salt River Works in Cape Town and was based on the principles developed by Argentinian mechanical engineer L. D. The original locomotive from which the Class 26 was rebuilt, entered service in 1953 as the last of the Class 25NC 4-8-4 Northern type locomotives to be built. The Class 25 condensing and Class 25NC non-condensing locomotives were designed by the South African Railways under the direction of L. C, grubb, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the SAR from 1949 to 1954, and in conjunction with Henschel and Son. Porta to utilise steam with maximum efficiency, as a trial run, Wardale was allowed to carry out extensive modifications on a Krupp-built Class 19D 4-8-2 Mountain type branchline locomotive, no.2644. A GPCS and tandem dual Lempor exhausts were installed, along some other small improvements which included high mounted smoke deflectors. Work on Class 25NC no.3450 began at the end of 1979, the primary objectives of the modifications were threefold. To improve the combustion and steaming rate, to reduce the emission of wasteful black smoke. To overcome the problem of clinkering and this was achieved by the use of a single-stage gas producer, the GPCS, which relies on the gasification of coal on a low temperature firebed so that the gases are then fully burnt above the firebed. It minimises the amount of air being drawn up through the firebed, the most serious waste of fuel in a conventional steam locomotive is the loss of unburned coal particles from the fuel bed because of the rapid flow of air through the grate. With the GPCS, the coal is heated to drive off the volatile components which are then burned in the secondary air admitted above the grate. The result is improved combustion, thereby minimising black smoke, which is evidence of incomplete combustion with the result that unburnt coal particles are ejected through the exhaust. Amongst many minor improvements, other major modifications to the engine included the following. Improved lubrication on cylinder and valve liner rubbing surfaces, redesigned chromium cast iron rings and valve liners with streamlined cylinder ports. Improved valve and piston rod packings, an improved variable stroke lubricator drive. Improved Walschaerts valve gear with computer calculated dimensions, Continental European style high mounted exhaust deflectors, curved round but not parallel to the smokebox. The coal capacity of the Class 25NCs Type EW1 tender was increased from 18 long tons to about 20 long tons by raising the coal bunker sides. With all the modifications done, the weight of the locomotive in full working order had been increased from 231 tonnes to about 236 tonnes
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