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The South African Railways Class NG5 2-8-2 of 1922 was a class of narrow-gauge steam locomotives.
In 1922, the South African Railways placed six narrow-gauge steam locomotives with a 2-8-2 Mikado type wheel arrangement in service on the Otavi Railway in South West Africa. When a system of grouping narrow-gauge locomotives into classes was eventually introduced somewhere between 1928 and 1930, they were designated Class NG5. [1] [2]
Six narrow-gauge 2-8-2 steam locomotives were built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Henschel and Son in Germany in 1921. They were built to the same design as the three Class Hd locomotives which had been built in 1912 for the German administration in German South West Africa (GSWA) for leasing to the Otavi Mining and Railway Company. The locomotives, numbered in the range from NG71 to NG76, were delivered in 1922. [1] [2] [3]
Like their predecessor Class Hd, they were superheated, with Walschaerts valve gear and outside plate frames. The new locomotives differed from the Class Hd in having different boilers, which were of the same dimensions but with a different tube arrangement and, as a consequence, a slightly reduced total heating surface. [4] [5]
In keeping with SAR practice at the time, they had vacuum train brakes instead of the air brakes which the Class Hd was equipped with. They had slide valves which was unusual on a superheated locomotive, instead of piston valves like the Class Hd. As built, the sand boxes were mounted on top of the boiler between the chimney and the steam dome. [1] [4] [5]
Their rigidly mounted leading and trailing carrying wheels were also arranged as radial axles to allow for sideways motion of the wheels in relation to the locomotive frame, since the locomotive did not have separate bogie trucks. As on the Class Hd, this resulted in a rigid wheelbase of 17 feet 11⁄16 inch (5,199 millimetres), even though the leading carrying wheels were arranged to the rear instead of ahead of the cylinders. [2] [4] [5]
In service, these six locomotives and the three Class Hd locomotives were operated in a common pool. The system of grouping narrow-gauge locomotives into classes was only adopted by the SAR at some date between 1928 and 1930. At that point, these six locomotives and the three Class Hd locomotives were all designated Class NG5. [1] [2] [4]
The 1922-vintage Class NG5 was placed in service on the 352-mile long (566-kilometre) narrow-gauge line from Swakopmund on the Atlantic coast to Tsumeb and Grootfontein in South West Africa (SWA). They spent their whole service life in SWA, except for a brief period when one of them was sent to the Avontuur Railway in the Eastern Cape for trials. However, since it jammed on the tighter curves in the Langkloof despite having one set of flangeless coupled wheels, it was soon returned to SWA. [1]
The Class NG5 were all withdrawn from service when the narrow-gauge system in SWA was regauged to Cape gauge in 1960. Since they were unsuitable for use in the Langkloof, all six 1922-vintage Class NG5 locomotives were sold as scrap in 1962. [1]
While all of the Class NG5 were scrapped, two of the similar Class Hd locomotives have been preserved and plinthed at Otjiwarongo and Usakos respectively. [1]
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheels on one axle, usually in a trailing truck. This configuration of steam locomotive is most often referred to as a Mikado, frequently shortened to Mike.
The following lists events that happened during 1922 in South Africa.
The South African Railways Class NG G13 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1927 are a class of narrow gauge articulated steam locomotives.
The South African Railways Class NG15 2-8-2 is a class of narrow-gauge steam locomotives.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 2-6-2+2-6-2 is an articulated locomotive using a pair of 2-6-2 power units back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between them. The 2-6-2 wheel arrangement has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by three coupled pairs of driving wheels and a pair of trailing wheels in a trailing truck.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-8-2+2-8-2 is an articulated locomotive using a pair of 2-8-2 power units back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between them. The 2-8-2 wheel arrangement has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by four coupled pairs of driving wheels and a pair of trailing wheels in a trailing truck. Since the 2-8-2 type was known as Mikado, the corresponding Garratt and Modified Fairlie types were usually known as Double Mikado.
The Otavi Mining and Railway Company was a railway and mining company in German South West Africa. It was founded on 6 April 1900 in Berlin with the Disconto-Gesellschaft and the South West Africa Company as major shareholders.
The South African Railways Class NG G16 2-6-2+2-6-2 is a narrow gauge steam locomotive class.
The South African Railways Class NG G11 2-6-0+0-6-2 of 1919 is a class of narrow gauge steam locomotives.
The South African Railways Class S 0-8-0 of 1929 was a steam locomotive.
The South African Railways Class NG2 0-4-2ST of 1897 was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.
The South African Railways Class NG9 4-6-0 of 1915 was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive.
The South African Railways Class NG10 4-6-2 of 1916 was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive.
The South African Railways Class NG G12 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1927 was an articulated narrow-gauge steam locomotive.
The South West African Class Hd 2-8-2 of 1912 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
The South West African Class Ha 0-6-2T of 1904 was a steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
The South West African Class Hb 0-6-2T of 1905 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
The South West African Class Hc 0-6-0T of 1907 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
The South West African Jung 0-6-2T of 1904 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
The South African Railways Class 16DA 4-6-2 of 1930 is a class of steam locomotives.
