In 1928 the South African Railways placed four Class 19 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 wheel arrangement in service. One of them was later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19R.

Manufacturer

At the request of Colonel F.R. Collins, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1922 to 1929, the basic design of the Class 19 4-8-2 steam locomotive was done by Test Engineer M.M. Loubser, himself later to be appointed as CME from 1939 to 1949. Four locomotives were built in 1928 by Berliner Maschinenbau AG (BMAG), the former L. Schwartzkopff, in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, numbered 1366 to 1369.

They were superheated, built on bar frames and used Walschaerts valve gear. Built as a lighter branch line development of the earlier Class 15C and Class 15CA

South African Class 15CA 4-8-2

In 1926 the South African Railways placed twenty-three Class 15CA steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service. Another sixty-one were ordered and delivered in 1929 and 1930.-Class 15C redesign:...

 4-8-2 main line locomotives, they proved to be extremely successful. Following the pilot project with the four Class 19 locomotives, four variants on the class were acquired over the next twenty-one years.

• The slightly smaller Class 19A
  South African Class 19A 4-8-2
  In 1929 the South African Railways placed thirty-six Class 19A steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in service. Five of them were later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19AR.-Manufacturer:...
  
   in 1929.
• The Class 19B
  South African Class 19B 4-8-2
  In 1930 the South African Railways placed fourteen Class 19B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service. One of them was later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19BR.-Manufacturer:...
  
   in 1930.
• The Class 19C
  South African Class 19C 4-8-2
  In 1935 the South African Railways placed fifty Class 19C steam locomotives with a Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:When the need for more branch line locomotives became apparent in 1934, tenders were invited by the South African Railways for another fifty Class 19B locomotives...
  
   in 1935.
• The Class 19D
  South African Class 19D 4-8-2
  Between 1937 and 1949 the South African Railways placed two hundred and thirty-five Class 19D steam locomotives wirh a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service...
  
   between 1936 and 1949.

The Class 19 family earned a reputation for reliability, easy handling, long periods between overhauls and economical operation. In preparing the specifications, Loubser gave considerable thought to the layout of this locomotive that was essentially a completely new type of branch line locomotive. The Research and Test Department was consulted on the most suitable wheel arrangement and other design details, and the end result more than justified the amount of care and thought taken during the design process.

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.

In 1966, when Class 19 1367 was reboilered with a Watson Standard no. 1A boiler, it became the sole Class 19R. 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.

The Watson Standard no. 1A boiler was designed to the same basic dimensions of the Class 19 boiler, but with more superheater elements and a different tube arrangement with larger diameter small tubes.

Service

The four Class 19 locomotives were placed in service on the line between Kimberley

Kimberley, Northern Cape

Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...

 and Vryburg, but eventually spent their later working years at Empangeni and on the Bergville branch in Natal

Natal Province

Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...

. By 1977 they were all withdrawn from service. One, the reboilered Class 19R 1367, was sold into industrial service, becoming the Number 2 of Platberg Colliery in Natal.

Gallery

The main picture shows number 1369, probably the sole surviving Class 19, serving as the town guard at Breyten

Breyten

Breyten is a small farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa and is situated at the foot of Klipstapel, the highest point on the watershed between the westward flowing Vaal River system and the eastward flowing Olifants and Komati River systems...

 in Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...

See also

• South African Class 19A 4-8-2
  South African Class 19A 4-8-2
  In 1929 the South African Railways placed thirty-six Class 19A steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in service. Five of them were later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19AR.-Manufacturer:...
  
  
• South African Class 19B 4-8-2
  South African Class 19B 4-8-2
  In 1930 the South African Railways placed fourteen Class 19B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement in service. One of them was later reboilered and reclassified to Class 19BR.-Manufacturer:...
  
  
• South African Class 19C 4-8-2
  South African Class 19C 4-8-2
  In 1935 the South African Railways placed fifty Class 19C steam locomotives with a Mountain wheel arrangement in service.-Manufacturer:When the need for more branch line locomotives became apparent in 1934, tenders were invited by the South African Railways for another fifty Class 19B locomotives...
  
  
• South African Class 19D 4-8-2
  South African Class 19D 4-8-2
  Between 1937 and 1949 the South African Railways placed two hundred and thirty-five Class 19D steam locomotives wirh 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