File talk:SAR Class 8B (4-8-0).jpg

Possible date of the picture

On Thu, 3 Mar 2011, Richard Gillatt wrote:

Hi all,

I received the two attached postcards and looking at them have the following questions please: 1) What class locos are these? 2) Why would there be 4 or 5 short wagons between the two locos entering the tunnel? 3) Why was there a thatched rondavel at the entrance to the tunnel? 4) Is this bridge the lower or upper one?

Hi Richard and List members:

These two photos are VERY interesting for many reasons. The 40 locomotives which became SAR Class 8B were ordered in 1903 by Mr P.A. Hyde, the Locomotive Superintendent of the newly formed CSAR. He had them fitted with what were called in the SAR literature "Drummond water tubes". These were simply a series of tubes containing boiler water at right angles to the firebox, hence the rectangular bulge seen in the one photo. The concept was patented (English patent 27949 of 1897) by Dugald Drummond, a plain-spoken Scot who was at that time Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the London and South Western Railway in England. Drummond did not believe in superheating and thought his idea would improve steaming -- it did somewhat, but at a price of higher capital and maintenance costs. Drummond died as a result of a workplace accident in 1912. Most of these tubes were therefore removed within a few years. I haven't found any information on Hyde's origins, but he may have worked under Drummond, hence his use of the cross water tubes.

This lengthy introduction is to make my case that while the postmarks on your postcards were clearly from the 1930s, the photos must have been taken MUCH earlier -- in fact I suggest maybe 20 or more years earlier.

My reasons are that the original NZASM route between Waterval Onder and Waterval Boven was graded at 1:20 and used a rack-rail system. which was abandoned after the present line was built in 1908. The photos seem to me to be showing trains on this new deviation, built on a 1:50 gradient. In fact, this is the slope of an almost continuous climb all the way to Belfast. The original unsuperheated class 8s would have been able to work some 300-350 tons up this long climb. This is not a large load, as the Oosterlijn served not only the busy import/export trade between Johannesburg/Pretoria and Delagoa Bay (now Maputo), but also lumber traffic from the lowveld for the mines, as well as developing vegetable/fruit farming in the lowveld. Even 100 years ago, it must have been a busy route.

In 1915, Mr D.A. Hendrie, the SAR Chief Mechanical Engineer, designed and ordered his class 14A, which was lighter than the 14s and able to run on 30 kg/m track, which was the likely rail size east of Witbank at that time. These superheated locos served in the Eastern Transvaal for many years until they were all rebuilt as 14Rs. They would have been able to work 50% more freight than an 8B up the long 1:50 grades and so by 1916-1918, I would have expected most trains east of Witbank were pulled by these locos and the class 8Bs were moved to other work, as well as having lost their "Drummond tubes". By the mid 1920s, the SAR had purchased enough 15As to bring them to this route, and they were the main locos used between Waterval Boven and Komatipoort from this time until the mid 1950s when they were replaced by GMAMs. West of Waterval Boven, from the mid/late 1920s until electrification, 12As and 15CAs pulled most trains.

So I suggest that the photos on these postcards were taken between 1908 and 1918. I suggest they are a valuable historical piece as I have seen very few action shots of SAR trains out on the line from that period. The photographer must have gone to some considerable trouble to capture the one on the Elandsrivier bridge and there were no light-weight digital cameras at that time!

The rondavel at the tunnel mouth was probably home to an member of the track gang which maintained the line between Waterval Omder and Waterval Boven. In fact, he may have been responsible to keep an eye on the tunnel if this was not concrete-lined, or for rock falls in the area. This was very remote, rugged country in those days. There may well have been baboons living in the krantzes above the track -- they were known to send rocks and other debris down and I remember that in the 1940s and 50s this was a real problem in the Waterpoort through the Zoutpansberg between Louis Trichardt and Messina.

Finally, the wagons between the locos may have been because of a light bridge somewhere on the line. This way, the load was spread out.

Thanks again for sharing with us two fascinating photos,

Stuart

J. Stuart Grossert, Department of Chemistry Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J3