SAR class 16E
| SAR class 16E | |
|---|---|
 16E No. 858 in Vetrivier (1979)
|
|
| Numbering: | 854-859 |
| Number: | 6th |
| Manufacturer: | Henschel |
| Year of construction (s): | 1935 |
| Type : | 2'C1 'h2 |
| Gauge : | 1067 mm ( cape track ) |
| Length over coupling: | 21,850 mm |
| Service mass with tender: | 169.8 t |
| Friction mass: | 60.6 t |
| Wheel set mass : | 20.2 t |
| Indexed performance : | approx. 2200 PSi |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 1,829 mm |
| Impeller diameter front: | 864 mm |
| Rear wheel diameter: | 864 mm |
| Cylinder diameter: | 610 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 711 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 145.2 N / cm² |
| Grate area: | 5.85 m² |
| Superheater area : | 55.0 m² |
| Evaporation heating surface: | 270.7 m² |
| Train brake: | Suction air brake |
The Cape-gauge express train locomotive class 16E of the South African Railways (SAR) is a steam locomotive series with a 2'C1 '( Pacific ) wheel arrangement . The machines were the fastest narrow-gauge steam locomotives ever built .
The series was intended for use in front of express trains on the section between Johannesburg and Kimberley , a section of the main route between Johannesburg and Cape Town .
Six locomotives of the series were manufactured by the Henschel in 1935 and delivered to the SAR. Class 16E was the last and largest Pacific to be procured in South Africa. With a wheel diameter of 1,829 mm, they also have the largest drive wheels of all narrow-gauge locomotives ever built and, as a result, the highest boiler position. The center of the approximately 1.9 m diameter boiler is 2,819 mm above the top of the rail. Despite the smaller track width, the heating and grate surface as well as the pulling force of the 16E are greater than that of the German 01 series ; the performance is about the same.
A special technical feature is the control of the steam engine via valves driven by a camshaft , designed by the Italian engineer Arturo Caprotti , which are driven from the drive wheel set on each side of the locomotive via a counter crank and a cardan shaft . In addition to the six machines in this class, the SAR also equipped a further 94 locomotives with this control in the 1930s, namely the classes 19C and 15E as well as the unique class 20 .
During the first test drives with the 16E 854 shortly after delivery in 1935, the locomotive with a train weight of 350 t managed a speed of 136.8 km / h. Since this test drive went extremely well, the machine was driven up to 97 mph, which corresponds to 156 km / h, in further tests. During a test drive after a repair shortly after the Second World War, one of the locomotives with a measuring car reached a speed of 148 km / h. This makes the class 16E locomotives the fastest narrow-gauge steam locomotives ever built. In practice, however, such speeds were not required, so that the SAR no longer procured any more high-wheeled Pacific locomotives, but instead switched to slower, but more powerful locomotives for express trains due to the quadruple coupling.
The locomotives with the numbers 857 and 858 have been preserved. You are in Bloemfontein , where the class was last stationed.
16E 857 at Beaconsfield Depot (1991)
Locomotive sign on the 16E 857 (1991)
literature
- Wilhelm Reuter: Record Locomotives. The fastest on the rails. 1848 - 1950. 2nd edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-87943-582-0 .
- South Africa, Last Stronghold of Steam. South African Railways, Johannesburg 1978.
Web links
- Pictures from grades 16B to 16E (English)