In 1914 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-one Class 14A steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s with a 4-8-2

4-8-2

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...

 Mountain wheel arrangement in service.

Manufacturer

Following the success of the Class 14

South African Class 14 4-8-2

Between 1913 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 14 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:...

, D.A. Hendrie, then the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR), used the design as basis for the lighter Class 14A locomotive for use on coastal lines. The second version of the Class 14 locomotive was ordered from the North British Locomotive Company

North British Locomotive Company

The North British Locomotive Company was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp Stewart and Company , Neilson, Reid and Company and Dübs and Company , creating the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe.Its main factories were...

 (NBL) in 1913 and was built in two batches. Twenty were delivered in 1914, numbered 1576 to 1595, and another twenty-one in 1914 and 1915, numbered 1901 to 1921.

Like the Class 14, the Class 14A had Walschaerts valve gear and a Belpaire firebox

Belpaire firebox

The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium. It has a greater surface area at the top of the firebox, improving heat transfer and steam production...

 and was superheated, but it had nearly 6 inches (152.4 mm) less boiler diameter than the Class 14 to bring the axle loading down to 15 long tons (15.2 t), specifically for use on the lighter track on the Cape Eastern main line from East London. Because of the smaller boilers, they were equipped with smaller cylinders with a bore of 21 inches (533.4 mm) instead of 22 inches (558.8 mm) to compensate.

Watson Standard boilers

During the 1930s many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by then CME A.G. Watson as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.

All the Class 14A locomotives except number 1915 were eventually reboilered with Watson Standard no 2 boilers. 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. In spite of being lighter than the Class 14, they were reclassified to Class 14R along with reboilered Class 14

South African Class 14 4-8-2

Between 1913 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 14 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:...

 locomotives, instead of to Class 14AR. Even so, they could still be identified as ex Class 14A locomotives by the absence of sandboxes on their running boards.

An obvious visual difference between an original and a Watson Standard reboilered locomotive is usually a rectangular regulator cover just to the rear of the chimney on the reboilered locomotive. In the case of reboilered Class 14A locomotives two even more obvious visual differences are the Watson cab and the absence of the Belpaire firebox hump between the cab and boiler on the reboilered locomotives.

South African Railways

As intended, the Class 14A was placed in service on the East London main line, but although they were good locomotives, they were not very successful there and were soon relocated to be shared between the Cape Western system for use between Cape Town and Beaufort West, and the Eastern Transvaal system for use on the line to Delagoa Bay out of Pretoria, particularly between Waterval Boven and Komatipoort. The Cape Western locomotives later joined the rest of the Class in the Eastern Transvaal. They proved themselves as free steaming locomotives, low on maintenance costs and trouble-free, and therefore popular with crews and fitters alike.

Industrial

Six were eventually sold into industrial service.

• 1586 went to Rustenburg Platinum Mines, retaining its SAR number.
• 1589 became "Bob" at the Vaal Reefs Gold Mine.
• 1906 became Randfontein Estates Gold Mine number 6.
• 1908 became Apex Colliery number 4 at Greenside.
• 1918 went to St Helena Gold Mines.
• 1921 became Grootvlei Proprietary Mines Limited number 3, "Duggie".

Gallery

The main picture shows second order Class 14R 1905 at Klerksdorp, Transvaal, on 17 April 1978.

See also

• South African Class 14 4-8-2
  South African Class 14 4-8-2
  Between 1913 and 1915 the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 14 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:...
  
  
• South African Class 14B 4-8-2
  South African Class 14B 4-8-2
  In 1915 the South African Railways placed fifteen Class 14B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:...
  
  
• South African Class 14C 4-8-2
  South African Class 14C 4-8-2
  Between 1918 and 1922 the South African Railways placed seventy-three Class 14C steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service...
  
  
• Tender locomotive numbering and classification
• Watson Standard boilers
• The 4-8-2 "Mountain"
• List of South African locomotive classes