South African Dock Shunter 0-4-0T Explained

South African Dock Shunter 0-4-0T
Powertype:Steam
Designer:Orenstein & Koppel
Builder:Orenstein & Koppel
Serialnumber:3019
Builddate:1909
Uicclass:Bn2t
Gauge: as built
regauged
Coupleddiameter:290NaN0
Wheelbase:60NaN0
Over Couplers:19feet
Width:80NaN0
Height:10feet
Frametype:Plate
Locoweight:16lt empty
Fueltype:Coal
Fireboxtype:Round-top
Boilerpressure:1700NaN0
Cylindercount:Two
Valvegear:Walschaerts
Coupling:Johnston link-and-pin
Poweroutput:140hp
Tractiveeffort:9100lbf
Operator:Hollandse Anneming Maatschappij
South African Railways
Numinclass:1
Fleetnumbers:69
Deliverydate:1939 (Contractors), 1941 (SAR)
Firstrundate:1909
Withdrawndate:1950s

The South African Railways Dock Shunter 0-4-0T of 1909 was a steam locomotive.

A single second-hand locomotive was bought by the South African Railways in 1941 and employed as harbour shunting engine in Cape Town. The engine had, until then, been used as construction locomotive by the contractors who undertook the construction of the new Table Bay harbour.

Origin

When the old Table Bay harbour in Cape Town became inadequate to cope with the vast increase in shipping, a contract was awarded to the Hollandse Anneming Maatschappij Eiendoms Beperk to construct a new harbour. Work to reclaim ground on the Foreshore, dredge the New Basin and build new and deeper docks began in 1938. The contractors brought out a small locomotive to use on site for general haulage work. The locomotive's arrival date is not known, but it was removed from Dutch boiler records in October 1939.[1] [2]

The locomotive had been built by Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin in 1909, originally as a 140hp gauge locomotive for the Fix Söhne Bauunternehmung in Meiderich. It was later regauged to Cape gauge and transferred or sold to the Dutch contractors.[3]

Service

In 1940, the South African Railways bought the locomotive from the contractors out of hand. It was not classified in Railway service, but was numbered 69 and bore cab-side plates lettered "SAR-H&NW". It remained in use as a dock shunter in Table Bay harbour into the 1950s.[2]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.2fpt.com/css/SA%20Steam%20News/2013/Railway%20History%20Group/2013.01.30%20RH%20G%20Bulletin%20No%20114.pdf Railway History Group of Southern Africa, Bulletin no. 114, January 2013: Notes on Cape Town Harbour Extension Contracts, by John Middleton
  2. Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter II - The Cape Government Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, April 1944. pp. 253-257.
  3. Bude, Roland; Fricke, K.; Murray, M. (1978). O&K-Dampflokomotiven. Lieferverzeichnis 1892 - 1945, (1st ed.). Buschhoven. .