SAR class NG 4
| SAR class NG 4 | |
|---|---|
 No. NG 16, restored at Sandstone Estates, May 4th 2013
|
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| Numbering: | NG 10 - 16 |
| Number: | 7th |
| Manufacturer: | Kerr Stuart |
| Year of construction (s): | 1911-1914 |
| Retirement: | SAR around 1950 |
| Type : | 2'C1 'n2t |
| Gauge : | 610 mm |
| Length over coupling: | 7595 mm |
| Service mass: | 30.2 t |
| Friction mass: | 18 t |
| Wheel set mass : | 6.25 t |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 762 mm |
| Impeller diameter front: | 457 mm |
| Rear wheel diameter: | 533 mm |
| Cylinder diameter: | 292 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 381 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 113.7 N / cm² |
| Grate area: | 1.2 m² |
| Train brake: | Suction air brake |
The locomotives of the class NG 4 of the South African Railways (SAR) were tank locomotives with the wheel arrangement 2'C1 'for 610 mm narrow gauge ( NG stands for Narrow Gauge ).
history
The locomotives were built for the Port Shepstone to Harding (on the south coast of Natal ) railway, also known as the Alfred County Railway . Kerr Stuart delivered seven locomotives between 1911 and 1914. They corresponded in appearance and in most dimensions to the machines built by Hawthorn Leslie for the Natal Government Railways , which had been taken over by the SAR as class NG 3 . Like these, they had an external panel frame and Heusinger control . The boiler was more powerful, however, and the locomotives were therefore heavier.
The NG 4 remained in Natal throughout their service life, and until the appearance of the NGG 13 class , they carried the brunt of the traffic on the Alfred County Railway. The retirement took place around 1950.
Whereabouts
Only one of the seven locomotives has survived. Locomotive no. NG 16 was last used in shunting service and was sold to Rustenburg Platinum Mines in 1953 , where it was kept ready as a reserve locomotive until the route network was converted to Cape Gauge in 1972.
The locomotive then went back to the SAR, where it was put back for maintenance. After stays in Port Elizabeth and at the now privatized Alfred County Railway in Port Shepstone, where the restoration did not take place due to external circumstances, the remnants of the locomotive, meanwhile severely damaged by corrosion, were taken over by the Sandstone Heritage Trust in 2003 .
The locomotive was restored by 2007 and is now in working order.
literature
- Leith Paxton, David Bourne: Locomotives of the South African Railways. A Concise Guide. C. Strui (Pty) Ltd., Cape Town 1985, ISBN 0-86977-211-2 .
