Between 1893 and 1898 one hundred and seventy-five 46 Tonner 0-6-4T tank steam locomotives were placed in service by the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij

Netherlands-South African Railway Company

The Netherlands-South African Railway Company or NZASM was established in August 1884 in the Transvaal, and funded by Dutch, German and Transvaal capitalists....

in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

In 1899 twenty more were ordered, of which only two were delivered by the time the Imperial Military Railways took over all railway operations in the ZAR during the Second Freedom War. The other eighteen locomotives in this order were delivered directly to the Imperial Military Railways, who diverted two of them to Lourenço Marques.

At the end of the war the survivors of these locomotives were taken onto the roster of the Central South African Railways

Central South African Railways

From 1902 to 1904, the area of power of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Girouard later also included the lines of The Netherlands-South African Railway Company; together this dominion covered all lines in the Transvaal that belonged to NZASM ....

, renumbered and reclassified to Class B, while the two in Mozambique were taken onto the roster of the Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique. In 1912, when the remaining locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered again but retained their Class B classification.

Forerunners

In 1891 the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM, usually shortened to ZASM) of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) placed an order with Emil Kessler

Emil Kessler

Emil Julius Carl Kessler was a German businessman and founder of the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen ....

’s firm, the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen

Maschinenfabrik Esslingen

Maschinenfabrik Esslingen , was a German engineering firm that manufactured locomotives, tramways, railway wagons, roll-blocks, technical equipment for the railways, , bridges, steel structures, pumps and boilers.-Founding:...

in Germany, for twenty 40 Tonner 0-6-2T tank steam locomotives. While these locomotives were satisfactory in service, the trailing wheels initially proved troublesome owing to insufficient sideways movement when traversing curves.

Manufacturers

To overcome this problem, the next order with the same supplier was for 0-6-4T tank steam locomotives that were practically identical in their main dimensions, but with a four-wheeled bogie at the rear. Because of the resultant increase in weight, these locomotives became known as the 46 Tonners. They had Walschaerts valve gear, outside plate frames and used saturated steam.

The first twenty of these were delivered between 1893 and 1894 and numbered 61 to 80, and were followed by another one hundred and fifty-five from the same manufacturer between 1894 and 1898, delivered in nine more batches and numbered 81 to 235.

In 1899 a further order for another twenty 46 Tonners was placed with the Nederlandse Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel (Werkspoor) in Holland. They were to have been numbered 236 to 255, following on the last of the Esslingen locomotives, but since delivery only commenced just before the outbreak of the Second Freedom War (the Anglo-Boer War), only numbers 236 and 237 actually entered service with the NZASM.

The remainder were commandeered by the Imperial Military Railways (IMR), which took over the operation of the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwermentspoorwegen (OVGS) and the NZASM on behalf of the invading British forces as possession was obtained of their lines. Sixteen of them were landed and erected at East London and the IMR diverted the other two to the Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique (CFM) in Lourenço Marques.

Design alteration

The original design for the 46 Tonner called for a straight-backed coal bunker, but the last sixteen Esslingen builts and the twenty Werkspoor builts had the bunkers sloping outwards towards the top to increase the coal capacity by 20%, while their water tanks were also enlarged to a 10% larger capacity.

NZASM

In NZASM service, all the Esslingen built 46 Tonners were given names as well as running numbers. The names are shown in Table 1 below.

The 46 Tonners became the standard main line locomotives of the NZASM and were used on all kinds of traffic between Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

 in the ZAR and Lourenço Marques

Lourenço Marques

Lourenço Marques was a 16th century Portuguese trader and explorer.-Biography:He explored the area that is now Maputo Bay in 1544. He settled permanently in present-day Mozambique, where he spent most of his life with his black wife and mixed-race children.By order of King John III the bay was...

 in Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

. Since they did not have a leading bogie, they were found to be rough riding and it became the practice to run them bunker forward whenever possible. The bogies had a steadying effect when leading and the crew was not shaken up as much.

The builders, works numbers, names, original running numbers and renumberings onto the rosters of the CFM, Central South African Railways (CSAR) and South African Railways (SAR) are shown in the table.

Table 1
46 Tonner 0-6-4T Builders, works numbers, names
and CSAR, CFM and SAR renumbering

Builder	Works no.	Year Built	Name	NZASM no.	IMR no.	CSAR no.	SAR no.	CFM no.
Esslingen	2598	1893	Roos	61	61	Unk		36
Esslingen	2599	1893	Botha	62	62
Esslingen	2600	1893	Cronje	63	63
Esslingen	2601	1893	Prinsloo	64	64
Esslingen	2602	1893	Malan	65	65
Esslingen	2603	1893	Stoop	66	66
Esslingen	2604	1893	Greyling	67	67
Esslingen	2605	1894	Grobler	68	68
Esslingen	2606	1894	Van Staden	69	69
Esslingen	2607	1894	Beukes	70	70	70		37
Esslingen	2608	1894	Meyer	71	71
Esslingen	2609	1894	Steenkamp	72	72
Esslingen	2610	1894	De la Rey	73	73
Esslingen	2611	1894	Du Plessis de Bec	74	74
Esslingen	2612	1894	Celliers	75	75			20
Esslingen	2613	1894	De Clercq	76	76
Esslingen	2614	1894	Bezuidenhout	77	77
Esslingen	2615	1894	Spies	78	78
Esslingen	2616	1894	Labuschagne	79	79
Esslingen	2617	1894	De Jager	80	80
Esslingen	2624	1894	Regborn Smitt	81	81
Esslingen	2625	1894	Machado	82	82			21
Esslingen	2626	1894	Verloop	83	83
Esslingen	2627	1894	Kock	84	84
Esslingen	2628	1894	Malherbe	85	85
Esslingen	2629	1894	Van Niekerk	86	86
Esslingen	2630	1894	Erasmus	87	87
Esslingen	2631	1894	De Wet	88	88
Esslingen	2632	1894	Boshoff	89	89
Esslingen	2633	1894	Le Roux	90	90
Esslingen	2656	1894	Holland	91	91
Esslingen	2657	1894	Portugal	92	92
Esslingen	2658	1894	Schutte	93	93			22
Esslingen	2659	1894	Fourie	94	94
Esslingen	2660	1895	Otto	95	95
Esslingen	2661	1895	Tosen	96	96
Esslingen	2662	1895	Jooste	97	97
Esslingen	2663	1895	Uys	98	98
Esslingen	2664	1895	Komaas	99	99	61		34
Esslingen	2665	1895	Kirsten	100	100
Esslingen	2703	1895	Bodenstein	101	101
Esslingen	2704	1895	Kotze	102	102
Esslingen	2705	1895	Birkenstock	103	103
Esslingen	2706	1895	Van Rensburg	104	104
Esslingen	2707	1895	Schoeman	105	105
Esslingen	2708	1895	Van der Stel	106	106
Esslingen	2709	1895	De Graaff	107	107
Esslingen	2710	1895	Petersen	108	108
Esslingen	2711	1895	Oranje Vrystaat	109	109
Esslingen	2712	1895	Koningin Wilhelmina	110	110
Esslingen	2714	1895	Koningin Emma	111	111
Esslingen	2715	1895	Zacharias Wagenbouw	112	112
Esslingen	2716	1895	Van Quarlberg	113	113			23
Esslingen	2717	1895	Jacob Bronkhorst	114	114
Esslingen	2718	1895	Pieter Hackins	115	115
Esslingen	2719	1895	Isbrand Grosse	116	116
Esslingen	2720	1895	Johann Bax	117	117
Esslingen	2721	1895	J.C. d'Ableing	118	118
Esslingen	2722	1895	Van Assenburgh	119	119
Esslingen	2723	1895	Willem Hellot	120	120
Esslingen	2724	1895	Pasques de Chavonnes	121	121
Esslingen	2725	1895	De la Fontaine	122	122
Esslingen	2726	1895	P.G. Noodt	123	123
Esslingen	2727	1895	A. van Kervel	124	124
Esslingen	2728	1895	D. van der Heughel	125	125
Esslingen	2729	1895	H. Swellengrebel	126	126
Esslingen	2730	1895	Ryk Tulbach	127	127
Esslingen	2731	1895	J. van Plettenberg	128	128
Esslingen	2732	1895	C.J. van Graaf	129	129
Esslingen	2733	1895	J.W. Janssens	130	130
Esslingen	2745	1895	Argus	131	131
Esslingen	2746	1895	Brutus	132	132
Esslingen	2747	1895	Ceres	133	133
Esslingen	2748	1895	Diana	134	134
Esslingen	2749	1895	Etna	135	135
Esslingen	2750	1896	Flora	136	136
Esslingen	2751	1896	Glorie	137	137
Esslingen	2752	1896	Hecla	138	138
Esslingen	2753	1896	Juno	139	139
Esslingen	2754	1896	Komet	140	140
Esslingen	2755	1896	Leda	141	141
Esslingen	2756	1896	Mars	142	142
Esslingen	2757	1896	Nero	143	143
Esslingen	2758	1896	Orion	144	144
Esslingen	2759	1896	Pluto	145	145
Esslingen	2760	1896	Rhea	146	146
Esslingen	2761	1896	Sirius	147	147	64		35
Esslingen	2762	1896	Triton	148	148
Esslingen	2763	1896	Urania	149	149
Esslingen	2764	1896	Vesta	150	150
Esslingen	2765	1896	Castor	151	151
Esslingen	2766	1896	Pollux	152	152
Esslingen	2767	1896	Ajax	153	153
Esslingen	2768	1896	Bellona	154	154
Esslingen	2769	1896	Cyclops	155	155
Esslingen	2770	1896	Delios	156	156
Esslingen	2771	1896	Eris	157	157
Esslingen	2772	1896	Faunus	158	158
Esslingen	2773	1896	Glaucus	159	159
Esslingen	2774	1896	Hector	160	160		8	48
Esslingen	2775	1896	Irene	161	161
Esslingen	2776	1896	Jason	162	162
Esslingen	2777	1896	Kratos	163	163
Esslingen	2778	1896	Lucifer	164	164
Esslingen	2779	1896	Medusa	165	165
Esslingen	2780	1896	Neptunus	166	166
Esslingen	2781	1896	Orrestus	167	167
Esslingen	2782	1896	Pallus	168	168
Esslingen	2783	1896	Rhesus	169	169
Esslingen	2784	1896	Styx	170	170
Esslingen	2785	1896	Thetis	171	171
Esslingen	2786	1896	Ulysses	172	172
Esslingen	2787	1896	Volcanus	173	173
Esslingen	2788	1896	Wodan	174	174
Esslingen	2789	1896	Xenios	175	175
Esslingen	2824	1896	Vondel	176	176
Esslingen	2825	1896	Willem de Zogger	177	177
Esslingen	2826	1896	Egmond	178	178
Esslingen	2827	1896	Hoorne	179	179
Esslingen	2828	1896	Brederode	180	180
Esslingen	2829	1896	Julius Caesar	181	181			24
Esslingen	2830	1896	Claudius Civilis	182	182
Esslingen	2831	1896	Stephenson	183	183
Esslingen	2832	1896	James Watt	184	184			25
Esslingen	2833	1896	Boerhaare	185	185
Esslingen	2834	1896	Pasteur	186	186
Esslingen	2835	1896	Rembrandt	187	187			26
Esslingen	2836	1896	Jan Steen	188	188
Esslingen	2837	1896	Rubens	189	189
Esslingen	2838	1896	Tromp	190	190
Esslingen	2839	1896	De Ruyter	191	191
Esslingen	2840	1896	Van Brakel	192	192
Esslingen	2841	1896	Jan Pieterszkoen	193	193
Esslingen	2842	1897	Van Gaalen	194	194
Esslingen	2843	1897	Evensen	195	195			27
Esslingen	2854	1897	Eendracht	196	196
Esslingen	2855	1897	Kracht	197	197		41
Esslingen	2856	1897	Veiligheid	198	198
Esslingen	2857	1897	Wysheid	199	199
Esslingen	2858	1897	Wetenschap	200	200
Esslingen	2859	1897	Welvaart	201	201	187		38
Esslingen	2860	1897	Postwezen	202	202
Esslingen	2861	1897	Telegrafie	203	203
Esslingen	2862	1897	Onderwys	204	204	139	26	46
Esslingen	2863	1897	Nyverheid	205	205	113		39
Esslingen	2864	1897	Landbouw	206	206	99		40
Esslingen	2865	1897	Veeteelt	207	207
Esslingen	2866	1897	Mynwezen	208	208
Esslingen	2867	1897	Europa	209	209
Esslingen	2868	1897	Azie	210	210
Esslingen	2869	1897	Amerika	211	211	59		41
Esslingen	2870	1897	Afrika	212	212	58	22	47
Esslingen	2871	1897	Australien	213	213
Esslingen	2872	1897	President Reitz	214	214	56	21	49
Esslingen	2873	1897	President Steyn	215	215
Esslingen	2877	1897	Beelaerts van Blockland	216	216	54	19
Esslingen	2878	1897	Cornelis Hontmann	217	217
Esslingen	2879	1897	Paulus van Caerden	218	218		17	44
Esslingen	2880	1897	Joris van Spilbergen	219	219
Esslingen	2881	1897	Pieter Both	220	220	50		42
Esslingen	2882	1897	Isac le Maire	221	221
Esslingen	2883	1897	Leendert Jansz	222	222
Esslingen	2884	1897	Nicolaus Proot	223	223
Esslingen	2885	1897	David Cominck	224	224
Esslingen	2886	1897	Hendrik Boom	225	225
Esslingen	2941	1897	Annetjie Boom	226	226			28
Esslingen	2942	1897	Sebastiaan van Opdorp	227	227			29
Esslingen	2943	1897	Elisabeth van Opdorp	228	228			30
Esslingen	2944	1898	Simon Turver	229	229			31
Esslingen	2945	1898	Jan Wintervogel	230	230
Esslingen	2946	1898	Stephen Botma	231	231
Esslingen	2947	1898	Jan van Harvarden	232	232
Esslingen	2948	1898	Wouter Mostert	233	233
Esslingen	2949	1898	Rijklof van Goens	234	234
Esslingen	2950	1898	Roelof de Man	235	235
Werkspoor	1	1899		236	236		47
Werkspoor	2	1899		237	237
Werkspoor	3	1899			238
Werkspoor	4	1899			239
Werkspoor	5	1899			240
Werkspoor	6	1899			241
Werkspoor	7	1899			242
Werkspoor	8	1899			243
Werkspoor	9	1899			244
Werkspoor	10	1899			245	29	50	45
Werkspoor	29	1899			246
Werkspoor	30	1899			247
Werkspoor	31	1899			248
Werkspoor	32	1899			249			32
Werkspoor	33	1899			250			33
Werkspoor	34	1899			251
Werkspoor	35	1899			252
Werkspoor	36	1899			253
Werkspoor	37	1899			254
Werkspoor	38	1899			255

Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique

The CFM eventually had at least thirty 46 Tonners in service. Between 1897 and 1898 some of its 46 Tonners were sold by the NZASM to the CFM. The two locomotives that were delivered after the outbreak of the war and that were diverted to Lourenço Marques upon arrival, IMR 249 and 250, were also taken onto the CFM roster at the end of the war. Later, between 1911 and 1920 during the CSAR and SAR eras, six more were sold to the CFM.

Imperial Military Railways

All the NZASM 46 Tonners as well as sixteen of the eighteen that were not delivered to the NZASM as a result of the outbreak of the war, were taken onto the roster of the IMR when it took over all railway operations in the ZAR during the war. It would appear that the locomotives were not renumbered in IMR service.

Central South African Railways

Hostilities ceased on 1 June 1902. On 1 July 1902, when the IMR was transferred to civilian control and became the CSAR, the survivors of the NZASM 46 Tonners were taken onto its roster. They were reclassified as Class B and renumbered by the CSAR, but records of the renumbering details are scant. The available information on NZASM to CSAR renumberings are only about those locomotives that the CSAR had sold to the CFM between 1907 and 1910, as shown in Table 1 above and included in Table 2 below.

South African Railways

As a result of locomotive sales by the NZASM to the CFM before the war, wartime attrition and more sales by the CSAR to the CFM after the war, only fifty-five of the original one hundred and seventy-five locomotives remained to be taken onto the SAR roster by 1910. Their planned SAR number range was to be from 1 to 55, but from the several gaps in the actual number sequence it would appear that eleven of these locomotives were withdrawn or disposed of between 1910 and 1912. As a result, by the time the actual renumbering took place in 1912, only forty-four remained to be taken onto the SAR roster. They retained their Class B classification and were renumbered as shown in Table 2 below. The NZASM information about these locomotives that could be determined is included in the table.

Table 2
Class B 0-6-4T CSAR to SAR renumbering

Builder	Works no.	Year Built	Name	NZASM no.	IMR no.	CSAR no.	SAR no.	CFM no.
						80	1
						122	2
						126	4
						137	5
						157	6
Esslingen	2774	1896	Hector	160	160	160	8
						171	10
						174	11
						176	12
						40	13
						46	14
						47	15
						51	16
						53	18
Esslingen	2877	1897	Beelaerts van Blockland	216	216	54	19
						55	20
Esslingen	2872	1897	President Reitz	214	214	56	21	49
Esslingen	2870	1897	Afrika	212	212	58	22	47
						82	24
						93	25
Esslingen	2862	1897	Onderwys	204	204	139	26	46
						149	27
						151	28
						177	29
						179	30
						182	33
						183	34
						184	35
						185	36
						188	37
						190	38
						192	39
						196	40
Esslingen	2855	1897	Kracht	197	197	197	41
						198	42
						42	43
						36	45
						38	46
Werkspoor	1	1899		236	236	39	47
						27	48
Werkspoor	10	1899			245	29	50	45
						31	52
						34	54
						35	55

In SAR service the Class B was used as shunters in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and towards the end of their service lives also in the Western Cape. They were all withdrawn from service by 1930.

Industrial

Several Class B locomotives were sold to mines and other industries by the CFM, CSAR and SAR when they began to be retired from government railways service, and some remained in industrial service well into the twentieth century. At least one, identified as ex NZASM 195, later CFM 27, was purchased by the Randfontein Estates Gold Mine (REGM). Another saw service with Dunn’s Locomotive Works in Witbank.

Preservation

Four of the 46 Tonner locomotives are known to have survived, of which only three have seen service as Class B in the SAR. The fourth, ex NZASM 230 Jan Wintervogel, was sold by the CSAR into industrial use in 1904 and therefore never entered SAR service. It was donated to the SAR for preservation in 1971, and in the Spoornet era it was steamed occasionally for enthusiast’s specials, filming and other activities. After restoration it was initially named “President Kruger”, which was the name carried by 40 Tonner number 42 in the NZASM days, but its original NZASM number and name was later reinstated.

Gallery

The main picture shows NZASM 46 Tonner 230 "Jan Wintervogel" at Witbank, Transvaal, in April 1993.

See also

• Tank locomotive numbering and classification
• The 0-6-4T wheel arrangement
• List of South African locomotive classes