The Central South African Railways Class E of 1901 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.

In 1901 and 1902, during the Second Boer War, the Imperial Military Railways placed 35 tank locomotives with a wheel arrangement in service, built to the design of the Reid Tenwheeler of the Natal Government Railways. In 1902, they came onto the roster of the Central South African Railways and were designated Class E.Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). The Locomotive in South Africa – A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter III – Natal Government Railways. (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, June 1944. pp. 424–425.Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1945). The Locomotive in South Africa – A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VI – Imperial Military Railways and C.S.A.R. (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, January 1945. pp. 12–14.

Origin When the Natal Government Railways (NGR) identified a requirement for a tank locomotive which could haul at least one-and-a-half times as much as a Dübs A locomotive, a tank locomotive was designed by George W. Reid, Locomotive Superintendent of the NGR at the end of the nineteenth century. On the NGR, these locomotives became known as the Reid Tenwheelers, later designated the NGR Class C.

Manufacturers

In 1901, during the Second Boer War, the Imperial Military Railways (IMR) of the invading British forces experienced a shortage of locomotives as a result of damage caused during hostilities and the transportation demands of the British Military. Lieutenant-Colonel E.P.C. Girouard KCMG DSO RE, the Commissioner of Railways for the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, therefore placed urgent orders for 35 locomotives of the NGR's Reid Tenwheeler type.

To ensure rapid delivery, the order was split between Dübs and Company, who built engine numbers 220 to 234, and Neilson, Reid and Company, who built numbers 235 to 254.

Characteristics To be able to negotiate sharp curves, both the first and fifth pairs of coupled wheels of the Reid Tenwheeler locomotive were flangeless. The locomotive used saturated steam and was equipped with Allan straight link valve gear. The trailing Bissel truck was of the Cartazzi type, which allowed the axle some lateral movement.

The main shortcoming of the Reid Tenwheeler was a tendency to derail while reversing, particularly over points, since the trailing drivers were flangeless. On the NGR, this was overcome by increasing the tyre width of these wheels from to .

While the IMR locomotive was identical in construction to those built for the NGR, it had a weatherboard affixed to the coal bunker to offer the crew better protection against the elements when travelling bunker forward. The locomotives were more ornate than those in Natal and, in true military style, their brass domes, chimney caps and boiler bands were polished. The practice of polished brasswork was a trade mark of the IMR and was done with all their new locomotives. It was continued on the Central South African Railways (CSAR) after the IMR was disbanded.

Service

Imperial Military Railways The Royal Engineer officers of the IMR considered the Reid Tenwheeler as an excellent and handy type of locomotive for the heavy gradients of 1 in 100 (1%) to 1 in 50 (2%). Most of the IMR's Reid Tenwheelers had been in service for less than a year when peace was declared on 1 June 1902. On 1 July 1902, the control of the railways was handed back to civilian authority.The South African Railways – Historical Survey. Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd., Published c. 1978, pp. 22–23, 25.

Central South African Railways The IMR was transformed into the CSAR, who took control of all railways in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. One of the first steps taken by the CSAR was to classify and renumber all the locomotive stock, with tank locomotives classified alphabetically and tender locomotives numerically. The Reid Tenwheeler engines were designated , but retained their IMR engine numbers.

Rebuilding to 4-8-2T Mountain From c. 1903, six locomotives, numbers 222, 233 to 235, 245 and 252, were converted to Mountain type engines by removing the fifth pair of coupled wheels and blanking off the resulting opening in the frame, similar to the modification which was being done by the NGR on its own Reid Tenwheelers to make them better suited for the tight curves encountered on points during yard working.

Rebuilding to 4-8-0TT Mastodon Since the small coal and water capacity of the Reid Tenwheelers limited their radius of action, one of them was converted to a tank-and-tender configuration in 1904. The coal bunker, trailing bissel truck and the fifth pair of coupled wheels were removed, the frame was shortened and the locomotive was equipped with a tender from an obsolete Cape 4th class locomotive. As a tank-and-tender type, the modified locomotive was able to haul the same load as before, used less oil, was less troublesome and was considered by crews to be much more comfortable. As a result, the remaining 28 unmodified Reid Tenwheelers were similarly modified to the Mastodon type configuration, using three-axle tenders from CSAR locomotives. This increased the coal capacity from and the water capacity from , which resulted in a considerable increase in the operating range of the locomotive.

Both modified versions of the locomotive were not reclassified on the CSAR, but were referred to as the Class E Converted. By 1912, when the classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the Cape Government Railways, NGR and CSAR onto the South African Railways roster took place, none of these locomotives survived in their original Reid Tenwheeler configuration.Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 7, 11, 13, 22-23 (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)

Works numbers The CSAR Class E builders, works numbers, rebuilding and disposition are listed in the table.Neilson, Reid works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser +IMR &CSAR no.BuilderWorksno.RebuilttoSARno.220 Dübs 4086 4-8-0TT1310 221Dübs 4087 4-8-0TT1311 222 Dübs 40884-8-2T222223Dübs 4089 4-8-0TT 1312 224Dübs 40904-8-0TT 1313 225Dübs 40914-8-0TT 1314 226Dübs 40924-8-0TT 1315 227Dübs 40934-8-0TT 1316 228Dübs 40944-8-0TT 1317 229Dübs 40954-8-0TT 1318 230Dübs40964-8-0TT1319 231Dübs 40974-8-0TT1320232Dübs 40984-8-0TT1321 233Dübs40994-8-2T223 234 Dübs 41004-8-2TScrapped235 Neilson, Reid61964-8-2T224 236Neilson, Reid61974-8-0TT1322 237Neilson, Reid61984-8-0TT1323 238Neilson, Reid61994-8-0TT1324239Neilson, Reid62004-8-0TT1325 240Neilson, Reid62014-8-0TT1326241Neilson, Reid62024-8-0TT1327242Neilson, Reid62034-8-0TT1328243Neilson, Reid62044-8-0TT1329244Neilson, Reid62054-8-0TT1330245Neilson, Reid62064-8-2T225246Neilson, Reid62074-8-0TT1331247Neilson, Reid62084-8-0TT1332248Neilson, Reid62094-8-0TT1333249Neilson, Reid62104-8-0TT1334250Neilson, Reid62114-8-0TT1335251Neilson, Reid62124-8-0TT1336252Neilson, Reid62134-8-2T226253Neilson, Reid62144-8-0TT1337254Neilson, Reid62154-8-0TT1338

References