The Cape Government Railways 2nd Class 4-4-0T of 1882 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre- Union era in the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. In 1882, the Cape Government Railways placed six tank locomotives with a 4-4-0 American type wheel arrangement in service on its suburban passenger trains out of Cape Town. Five more of these locomotives, colloquially known as ''Wynberg Tanks'' and later officially designated 2nd Class, entered service in 1888 and 1891.

Manufacturers

Since, by 1882, increasing passenger traffic on the Wynberg suburban line in Cape Town demanded higher speeds and more frequent service, an order was placed by the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately ow ...

(CGR) for four-coupled side-tank locomotives with four-wheeled leading bogies. Six 4-4-0T locomotives were built by

Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Par ...

in 1882, numbered in the range from W89 to W94 in the Western System's number range. They entered service on suburban passenger trains, working out of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

to the southern suburbs. Two more, numbered 27 and 28, were delivered from the same builders in 1888 and another three, numbered in the range from 18 to 20, from

Dübs and Company Dübs & Co. was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it amalgamated with two other Glasgow locomotive manufacturers to create the North British Loc ...

in 1891.Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1943). ''The Locomotive in South Africa – A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter II – The Cape Government Railways'' (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1943. pp. 731–734.

''Wynberg Tanks''

At the time, the southern suburban line ran to a terminus at Wynberg and the locomotives therefore became colloquially known as the ''Wynberg Tanks''. Their official CGR classification was as 2nd Class, in spite of the fact that they were of a different wheel arrangement and configuration than existing Cape locomotives with the same class designation, the 2-6-2 tank-and-tender 2nd Class of 1875.

Characteristics

The first six locomotives were delivered with coupled wheels of diameter, but the diameter was subsequently increased to when the wheels were retyred. The two batches of 1888 and 1891 were delivered with the larger diameter driving wheels. The feedwater pump was fitted to the front frame stretcher and was backed up by a small emergency injector feed, attached to the outside of the engine frame on the fireman's side. The locomotive was designed to operate in both directions and was therefore provided with a large enclosed cab to afford greater protection from the elements when travelling bunker forward. This, and the fact that the locomotives performed well, made them popular with the enginemen. The CGR general manager's report for 1889 mentioned that locomotive no. 27, which had been placed in service in March 1888, had worked continuously on the heaviest and fastest trains in the Cape and had run during the year in question, before being taken out of service to have worn tyres replaced.

Service

Cape Government Railways

The first batch of locomotives was renumbered by 1887 and again in 1888, when the CGR adopted new locomotive numbering systems. In addition to the known numbering and renumbering, there appears to have been an intermediate CGR numbering system at some stage between 1884 and the renumbering of the late 1880s. Apart from photographic evidence, no information about this numbering system has been found as yet. An example is the builder's picture of a ''Wynberg Tank'', possibly no. W93, bearing the number 116 which does not fit in with any of the known numbers of these locomotives. Intermediate CGR numbering system c. 1883-1888 After the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway Company went into liquidation on 19 July 1897, operations on its short railway from the city to Sea Point were taken over by the Cape government. After considerable alterations and improvements, the line was reopened by the CGR in December 1905 and two of the ''Wynberg Tanks'' were allocated to the Sea Point section. The locomotives remained on suburban passenger service on the Wynberg and

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is an affluent and densely populated suburb of Cape Town, situated in the Western Cape, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). M ...

lines until the increasing loads became too heavy for them to handle. They were then placed in shunting service and also hauled the lighter passenger trains on the

Milnerton Milnerton is a seaside town on Table Bay and is located north of Cape Town in South Africa. It is located 11 kilometres to the north of the city's centre. Geography Milnerton lies on the Western Seaboard of Cape Town, also known as the Blaau ...

branchline.''C.G.R. Numbering Revised'', Article by Dave Littley, SA Rail May–June 1993, pp. 94–95.Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). ''The Locomotive in South Africa – A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter II – The Cape Government Railways'' (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, April 1944. pp. 253–257.''The South African Railways – Historical Survey''. Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd., Published c. 1978, pp. 24–25.

South African Railways

When the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways, the CGR, the

Natal Government Railways The Natal Government Railways (NGR) was formed in January 1877 in the Colony of Natal. In 1877, the Natal Government Railways acquired the Natal Railway Company for the sum of £40,000, gaining the line from the Point to Durban and from Durban ...

and the

Central South African Railways The Central South African Railways (CSAR) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony in what is now South Africa. During the Anglo-Boer War, as British forces moved into the territory of ...

, were united under a single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. Although the South African Railways and Harbours came into existence in 1910, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways was only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912. With the exception of no. W89-93-21, which had been scrapped at some time between 1888 and 1891, all these locomotives were still in service in 1912. Since the SAR considered them obsolete, they were renumbered by having a "0" prefix added to their existing numbers. They were classified as Class 02 on the SAR and remained in service until 1916, when they were withdrawn.

Works numbers and renumbering

The builders, works numbers, years built, original numbers and renumbering of the Cape 2nd Class of 1882 are listed in the table.''Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists'', issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 13, 18. (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)

Illustration

File:CGR 2nd Class (4-4-0T) of 1882 (Wynberg Tank) at Seapoint Station.jpg, ''Wynberg Tank'' at Sea Point Station, bunker forward, c. 1906 File:CGR 2nd Class 4-4-0T 1882.jpg, No. 23 on the Sea Point line, c. 1906

References

{{Locomotives of South Africa 0240 4-4-0T locomotives 2′B n2t locomotives Neilson locomotives Dübs locomotives Cape gauge railway locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1882 1882 in South Africa Scrapped locomotives