Natal (locomotive)
| natal | |
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 natal
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| Number: | 1 |
| Manufacturer: | Carrett Marshall |
| Year of construction (s): | 1860 |
| Retirement: | 1876 |
| Type : | B n2t |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Service mass: | approx. 12 t |
| Friction mass: | approx. 12 t |
| Wheel set mass : | approx. 6 t |
| Train brake: | no |
The locomotive Natal of Natal Railway was the second locomotive on the territory of modern South Africa , and on 26 June 1860, the first to promoted a public train. Unlike later South African locomotives, it was built for standard gauge .
The locomotive was reconstructed from preserved parts in 1944 and is now on display at Durban Railway Station .
history
To operate on the 3.2 km long route between Durban and pier on the Point promontory called the Natal Railway procured at Carrett, Marshall & Co in Leeds, England, a tank locomotive , the parts arrived in May 1860 in Durban. It was put together under the direction of Henry Jacobs - chief engineer, mechanic and driver.
The railway was opened on June 26, 1860 - as the first steam-powered railway in South Africa. However, the Natal was not the first steam locomotive in the country, because the locomotive, known today as the Blackie and also preserved as a national monument, arrived in Cape Town in September 1859 .
In 1865 the Natal was supplemented by a second locomotive of a similar design, and after the line was extended in 1874, a third, larger machine was added. In 1876 the Natal Railway stopped its operations and was taken over by the colonial government, from which the Natal Government Railways emerged. Because the railway was rebuilt to Cape gauge, the three locomotives could no longer be used.
The Natal was sold to a farmer in 1878 and shipped to Port St Johns . The machine was supposed to drive a sawmill, but it never did because of protests by workers. Eventually their parts were buried and forgotten.
The locomotive was tracked down in 1943, and in 1944 it was recovered and taken to Durban, where it arrived on June 26, 84 years to the day after its first run. The locomotive was then restored in the workshops of the South African Railways . While the frame, the wheel sets and the cylinders in particular were preserved, other parts, in particular the boiler and body, had to be remade. The locomotive was presented to the public at the end of 1944 or 1945.
Plans to move the locomotive to a railway museum outside the city met popular protests, and so the Natal stayed in Durban. Today it is in the lobby of the main train station.
technology
The Natal is a tank locomotive with the B wheel arrangement and weighs around 12 t. The cylinders working on the second coupling axle are arranged at a steep incline and are located behind the front wheels. This arrangement allows the drive rods to lie within the coupling rods.
Characteristic features of the locomotive are the American-style conical chimney with built-in spark arrester, which was necessary because of the wood firing, and the high steam dome. The open driver's cab no longer has a protective roof; originally, or at least afterwards, one was probably present.
In contrast to the later Cape-gauge locomotives, the locomotive has buffers and a hook coupling, as is common in Europe .
Literature: CW Francis Harrison, Natal An illustrated official railway guide and handbook of general information, London, Payne Jennings, Regent House, Regent St., W. MDCCCCIII