Power type Steam Serial number 2966-3065 Build date 1952-1953 | Builder Friedrich Krupp AG Model Class S2 | |
 | ||
Designer South African Railways
(L.C. Grubb) | ||
The South African Railways Class S2 0-8-0 of 1952 was a steam locomotive.
Contents
In 1952 and 1953, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class S2 shunting steam locomotives with a 0-8-0 wheel arrangement in service.
Design specifications
By 1952, the need arose for shunting locomotives with a light axle load for harbour work, where most of the trackwork was laid with light rail. Under the direction of L.C. Grubb, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1949 to 1954, specifications were prepared for a light locomotive with the 0-8-0 wheel arrangement which had already been proven successful with the Classes S and S1 shunting engines. To keep the total weight of the engine and tender down to approximately 100 long tons (101.6 tonnes), it was to be equipped with the Watson Standard no. 1 boiler, the smallest of the standard boilers.
Manufacturer
When tenders were called for, a number of firms responded, but all except one stated that it would not be possible to construct the locomotive within the stipulated weight. Only the firm of Friedrich Krupp AG of Essen in Germany undertook to build the locomotives to the required specifications.
When design work commenced after the signing of the contract, however, it was discovered that the other tendering firms had been correct and that the locomotives could not be built within the specified weight limit, if the specifications were to be adhered to. It was eventually agreed that Krupp should design a suitable smaller boiler which would bring the locomotive's weight down to a level which would be in line with the stipulated maximum. The end result was an engine which had the appearance of a Cape gauge locomotive with a narrow gauge boiler, particularly when viewed from the front.
One hundred Class S2 locomotives were subsequently built by Krupp and delivered in 1952 and 1953, numbered in the range from 3701 to 3800. Even with the smaller Krupp-designed boiler, the locomotive's eventual working order weight was still more than 2 long tons (2.0 tonnes) over the desired maximum.
Characteristics
The locomotive had Walschaerts valve gear and was superheated. Its cast steel frame was a single casting with separately attached cylinders. As built, the third coupled axle had flangeless wheels to negotiate the tight curves found in docks.
Like the Class 24 and the last batch of the Class 19D, the Class S2 had a tank wagon type tender, similar in appearance to the American Vanderbilt type tender, with cylindrical water tanks and commonly known as a Torpedo tender. Its Type MY1 tender also rode on three-axle Buckeye bogies to reduce the axle load, but was much shorter than the Type MX tender of the Class 19D and with a different coal bunker top design than that of the Type MY tender of the Class 24. As was done with the tenders of the Classes S and S1, the top sides of the coal bunker were scalloped out to improve the crew's rearward field of vision.
Service
Most of the Class S2 locomotives were placed in shunting service in the Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth harbours, where they replaced a variety of aged 4-6-0, 4-8-0 and 4-8-2T locomotives. About twenty were also allocated to yards on the Witwatersrand and in the Eastern Transvaal, where they were employed in light general shunting.
One Class S2 locomotive, stationed at Capital Park in Pretoria, was painted in blue livery to be used for the shunting of Blue Train stock, until it was eventually replaced by a Class 19D locomotive, which was also painted blue. During 1981, four Class S2 locomotives were hired to Mozambique for dock shunting in Maputo.
All but one were withdrawn from service in 1982. The last Class S2 locomotive in service was the shed pilot at Waterval Boven, which remained in service until 1985. In Cape Town and Durban, they were replaced by Class 36-000 and Class 36-200 light general purpose diesel-electric locomotives, but in Port Elizabeth their initial replacements were older steam locomotives of larger capacity.
Commemoration
A 10c postage stamp depicting a Class S2 locomotive was one of a set of four commemorative postage stamps which were issued by the South African Post Office on 27 April 1983, to commemorate the steam locomotives of South Africa, which were rapidly being withdrawn from service at the time. The artwork and stamp design was by the noted stamp designer and artist Hein Botha.
The particular locomotive depicted was no. 3781. The outline of a traditional SAR locomotive number plate was used as a commemorative cancellation for De Aar on the date of issue.
Illustration
The main picture and the following illustrate different views of the Class S2 locomotive and its Type MY1 tender. One locomotive, no. 3706, was preserved in the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George.